


Memories Are Made Of This

by cazmalfoy



Series: Assassin Ianto [1]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Assassin Ianto, Bad ass Ianto, Fifty-First Century Ianto, M/M, Time Agent Ianto, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-01
Updated: 2013-10-01
Packaged: 2017-12-28 03:59:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 47,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/987396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cazmalfoy/pseuds/cazmalfoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack had two years of his memories stolen by the Time Agency. How does Ianto Jones factor into the former con-man's past?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted to ff.net in 2008. I am working on a new story in this universe, but want to get all the rest of the Assassin Ianto series onto AO3 first. 
> 
> Please forgive any mistakes. I plan to go back over this in the future and edit it to within an inch of it's life. I just need to write this new story first; before it kills my brain.
> 
> This takes place during the first season of Torchwood, and mentions Jack's episodes of season 3 (possible allusions of season 1 as well) of Doctor Who.

Chapter 1

To the vast majority of residents and visitors of London, the famous Canary Wharf was nothing more than an imposing set of offices in the heart of the financial district of the city. To a select few and various high persons of interest within the government, Canary Wharf was actually home to the Torchwood Institute’s head office.

When the plans had come through to develop the London office, Captain Jack Harkness had fought against them as hard as he could. He knew that advertising the Institute’s presence in the Capital was a bad idea, but he had been overruled. At the time he had been nothing more than a lowly Torchwood employee and he had been helpless to stop the construction going ahead as scheduled.

Since taking over Torchwood Cardiff, Jack had come to accept that there was nothing he could do to make Yvonne Hartman, director of the London branch, see reason; and had resigned himself to the fact that he was never going to have the power she did while London was still in operation.

He just hoped they kept whatever trouble they were asking for to themselves and as far from Cardiff as possible; Jack didn’t want London’s problems turning up on his doorstep.

Upon arrival at Torchwood One, Yvonne had given him a firm briefing almost before he had even walked through the large revolving doors. Looking down her nose at him, and using a tone most headmistresses would kill for, she had instructed him to stay well within the designated areas and to not go wandering off on his own. And of course, under no circumstances was he actually allowed to touch any of the alien artefacts they had ‘scavenged’ over the years.

Everything had been going fine, until Jack had stopped paying attention to where he was going and wandered away from the main archives. When he had finally looked up, he found himself in the lowest levels, buried deep in the bowels of Torchwood Tower.

Panic had flared inside him for a moment when he’d realised he was lost – he had never dealt well with the feeling of terror not knowing where he was brought - and he had made himself stop and take several deep breaths to calm himself down. He would find a way out; even if he didn’t, Yvonne would send someone to find him before he died of starvation. Again. 

Never one to stop moving, Jack had continued walking, hoping that he’d be able to correct himself and figure out where exactly he was. Turning a corner, he found himself in a very long corridor. He smiled a little in triumph when he spotted a dim light emitting from a small room on the opposite end of the corridor; perhaps whoever was in the room could help him get back. 

When he reached the door, he paused to read the plaque screwed to the wood. It said ‘Head of Research’, and Jack smiled; the head of research would know their way around the archives better than anyone else.

The Captain reached out and turned the handle, only to find that the door was locked. “Great,” he growled, resisting the urge to stamp his foot like a small child. 

He leant over and tried to see through the small window. He let out a sigh of annoyance when he saw that the computer inside the room was turned off and the light he had seen actually a security light, rather than an indication of anyone’s presence in the room.

The communicator Yvonne had given him beeped irritatingly in his hand and, even though he was tempted to ignore it, Jack knew there was no way he could do so and not have half of Torchwood’s armed staff looking for him within seconds. The thought that he should ignore it crossed his mind before he dismissed it; he was already in Yvonne’s bad books as it was.

“Yeah?” he sighed, bringing the device up to his mouth so she could hear him clearly.

“Captain Harkness, we have the files you requested,” Yvonne’s furious voice crackled through the radio waves. 

Jack grinned at the anger that was obvious in her voice; there was nothing he loved more than winding the woman up. “I’m on my way,” he purred before turning the device off and scowling deeply. He had slipped away from the guard in the hopes that he would be able to find the information for himself; he didn’t trust Yvonne to give him everything he asked for, or even the correct information in the first place.

In his absence, she would have already checked through the paperwork to ensure that nothing in there would be of any real use to him or his team – Jack had no doubt about that. Yvonne was firm in her belief that Torchwood London was the best institute in the country and Jack knew she would stop at nothing to make sure they kept that position.

He just hoped he could find his way out of the archives on his own; which, he considered, was unlikely.

~

The sky over Cardiff bay was dark and dreary as Jack stepped out of the Tourist Office almost a week after his return from London. He sighed and tugged his coat further around his body. Growing up in a place that was by the sea and always warm had made Jack susceptible to cold and it had taken him years to acclimatise himself. 

He stopped in his tracks when he saw a young man standing in front of him, wearing a pair of torn jeans and a loose shirt which was unfastened at the collar. Jack couldn’t help his eyes straying to the other man’s collar and licking his lips at the teasing glimpses of skin underneath that were being offered to him.

Jack waited for a moment to see if the other man would say anything to him, but he reminded silent. The Captain offered him a tight smile and brushed past him, heading on his way down the jetty towards the Plass. 

“Will?” the man asked softly from behind him.

Jack spun around so fast he nearly fell over and he stared at the other man, his mouth hanging open in surprise. “W… What did you just call me?” he spluttered.

The man looked at him, frowning deeply as he studied Jack’s face. Jack shifted in his spot; there was something about the other man that made the Time Agent feel uncomfortable, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

In the blink of an eye the man’s confusion vanished and a smile flashed over his face. “Sorry,” the younger man apologised, shaking his head. “Thought you were someone else. My mistake.”

~

If Jack had to make a choice about which shift he preferred to work, he knew he would have chosen the day shift. He didn’t sleep much – hadn’t since he’d left the agency – but he liked to spend his evenings on a rooftop somewhere watching the stars and thinking.

As it was, he didn’t usually get that luxury working for Torchwood; the Rift didn’t work in shifts. He had been on his way out for the night when a Rift spike had come through to Tosh’s PDA. Being the Captain, Jack had volunteered to investigate and was beginning to regret his rash decision.

“Toshiko, see if you can decode those hieroglyphics,” he instructed into his blue-tooth headset. The rest of the team were still back at the Hub, finishing up for the evening, but Jack still had a few last minute tasks for them. 

The headset crackled and Tosh’s voice assured him, “Already on it.” Jack grinned widely; he very rarely had to ask her to do things; she always used her initiative and did things on her own. It was one of the many things he loved about her.

“Owen, take a cross section of that paramedics brain. Check against the list of any chemical agents.”

“Will do,” Owen replied with his usual bored, ‘do I have to?’ tone and Jack made a mental note to tell Owen to at least try to sound interested in his work.

“Suzie, we’re going to need to drag the reservoir, see if we can find the other half of that…”

Suddenly someone stepped out into the road and Jack cut himself off mid-sentence, slamming his foot down on the brake. The tires squealed as the large SUV slid to a stop about four feet away from the suicidal pedestrian. Through his headset, Jack could hear Tosh and Suzie demanding to know if he was okay. He snapped that he was fine and wrenched the headset off before jumping out of the vehicle, immediately recognising who had stopped him. 

“Okay,” Jack scowled, slamming the door and moving around the car, “what the hell is going on here? First this morning and now you’re stalking me in the dead of night?”

The man studied him for moment before replying softly, “I know who you are.” 

Jack rolled his eyes in annoyance and exhaled loudly. “Congratulations, most people in Cardiff do,” he growled. “Now if you’d move…”

The man shook his head. “No, I mean I know who you are. Will, it’s me, Ianto,” he explained, his voice taking on a slightly desperate tone.

Jack, who was making his way back to the car, spun on his heel and glared at him. “I don’t know anyone called ‘Ianto’ and I think you’re getting confused. My name isn’t Will. Now move!” he shouted.

When Ianto didn’t shift, Jack stalked back to him; he made sure they were nose to nose as he spoke to ensure his meaning wasn’t mistaken in any way. “Look, I don’t know what your problem is, but you need to get over it right now. I want you out of this city by sunrise,” he stated.

Ianto tried to speak but Jack cut him off with a wave of his hand, “No, I don’t know you and I don’t want to. There is no place for you here; find someone else to annoy. Keep stalking me and I’ll wipe your memory. Are we clear?”

“But the thing is…”

Jack cut him off again, not giving him chance to get a full sentence out. “Look, any conversation between us, no matter what the subject, is over; finished; done. Forever!” Jack jabbed a finger in the direction of the SUV. “I’m getting back behind the wheel of that car; if you’re still standing in the road, I’m gonna drive through you!”

Jack was three steps away from the car door when he heard Ianto call after him, “So, you’re not going to help me catch this pterodactyl, then?” His voice sounded resigned and weary

~

As they stood in the warehouse, both trying to regain their breath after managing to subdue the dinosaur, Ianto looked over at Jack who was putting the finishing touches on the knots that bound the creature.

“You don’t remember me, do you?” he asked softly.

Jack sighed with frustration and finished what he was doing, before looking up. “How many times do I have to tell you? We haven’t met before. Ever.”

Ianto took a step closer, trying to place a hand on Jack’s arm, but Jack flinched away from the touch. “Will, please…” he begged.

“Stop that!” Jack cried desperately. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

“Because it’s your name,” Ianto pointed, confusion clearly written on his handsome features.

“Yes, but you shouldn’t know. No one here knows my real name; I haven’t used that name for years, so how do could you possibly know it?”

“We’ve met before,” Ianto replied softly; so soft that Jack could barely hear him over the blood rushing in his ears.

Their eyes met and Jack could feel something inside of him, tugging him closer to Ianto but he pushed it aside roughly. He would deal with one problem at once; his attraction to the other man would have to wait.

Ianto brought his hand up, placing his palm on Jack’s cheek. The blue-eyed man leant into the caress, before he realised what he was doing and jerked away from Ianto, almost falling over in an attempt to distance himself. 

“Will, what did they do to you?” Ianto breathed, his own eyes shining with hurt and confusion when Jack pulled away.

He couldn’t explain why, but for some reason Jack found himself stepping closer to Ianto, his legs seemingly moving of his own accord. With each step the hurt look faded less and less, and Jack found himself feeling better. 

“Look,” he eventually said, “I’m not saying I trust you, or that I’ll believe what you say, but…”

“At least give me chance to explain?” Ianto pleaded, reaching out and taking Jack’s hands in his.

“I’m a Time Agent,” he began simply, pulling back the sleeve of his suit jacket and revealing a Vortex Manipulator almost identical to Jack’s; but a little smaller, Jack noted smugly. “We met at the Agency. You actually trained me, personally.”

Jack jumped back the instant he spotted the wrist strap; no matter how much time had passed since he had left the Agency, he didn’t trust them. He still felt so much anger and resentment towards them that he couldn’t help but react violently to the presence of another Time Agent.

“That’s… that’s impossible. I remember everyone I trained to be a Time Agent. You definitely weren’t one of them!”

Ianto bit his lip, his forehead crumpling in disbelief. “You didn’t train me to be a Time Agent, Will,” he whispered. 

“Jack. My name is Jack,” he stated, sighing with impatience.

Their eyes met and Ianto spoke as evenly as he could. “I’m an assassin.”

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This begins six months before the events of Army of Ghosts & Doomsday.

Chapter 2

_“I’m an assassin.”_

At Ianto’s words, Jack jumped back in horror; trying to put a little distance between them. 

Jack’s mind reeled at the revelation as Ianto's words echoed in the silent warehouse. Neither of them moved for a long moment.

Jack’s eyes narrowed with suspicion and his hand reached for his gun, unclipping the holster and withdrawing the weapon. The knowledge that Ianto was a Time Agent made Jack suspicious enough; but the idea that he was alone – save for the unconscious pterodactyl – in an abandoned warehouse, with an assassin was enough to put him more that slightly on edge.

Of course, if Ianto did actually kill him it wouldn’t really make that much difference to Jack; except it would hurt like hell and put him in a bad mood for the rest of the night. 

Ianto held his hands up, his fingers splayed and palms turned towards Jack. “There’s no need for that. I’m not armed, I swear. I came here to talk to you; that’s it.” He slowly reached down – Jack’s eyes and gun following his movement – and unfastened his jacket, proving that there wasn’t a holster underneath.

“So talk,” Jack instructed sullenly. His thumb rested on the hammer, but he didn’t pull it back immediately; there was something deep inside of him that wanted to trust the stranger before him. But, Jack had lived too long and been betrayed by too many people for his guard not to be up. 

Ianto hesitated, uncertainty flickering across his eyes, before they met Jack’s own blue orbs. “Don’t you need to get that,” he nodded to the incapacitated dinosaur, “back to base?”

Jack felt a jolt of surprise – and a little fear – inside him when he heard that Ianto knew the tourist office was really the cover for a secret base. But, instead of pressing the young man about where he had gotten his information from, Jack added it to rapidly growing pile of questions he already had. “It can wait,” he shrugged, trying to fake nonchalance. 

Ianto rolled his eyes. “I don’t think the sedative will last long enough for me to explain things,” he scoffed. To prove his point, there was a grunt and shuffle at their feet as the pterodactyl stirred. 

The younger man bent down and grabbed one end of the rope. When Jack didn’t move, Ianto looked up and raised an eyebrow. “Come on,” he instructed. “I’ll help you.” When Jack didn’t move, Ianto sighed and rolled his eyes again. “The sooner we get rid of the dinosaur, the sooner I can explain everything to you. The sedative will wear off soon,” he pointed out.

Jack looked all set to argue that he wanted answers immediately, but his blue eyes flickered to the stirring dinosaur and he knew that Ianto was right; the sedative wouldn’t last long enough for him to hear what Ianto had to say. With a resigned sigh, Jack crouched down; mirroring Ianto's stance, and taking hold of the ropes as well.

It took them several attempts, but between them they managed to half-drag, half-carry the dinosaur’s dead weight out of the warehouse and load it into the boot of the SUV.

When the boot was closed, neither of them spoke while they tried to catch their breaths – the pterodactyl was heavier than it looked. 

After a long moment of silence between them – only the sounds of their heavy breathing filled the air – Ianto turned to Jack and sighed heavily. “I don’t know why you don’t remember me, Will,” he said, his voice sad and… Jack was certain he could detect a little bit of hurt as well. “But I’m not lying to you. We do know each other.”

The Captain met Ianto’s gaze briefly, before his eyes flickered away and he distracted himself with pulling the car keys out of his pocket. “How did you get here?” he asked, moving away from Ianto and unlocking the car.

“Walked,” Ianto replied sullenly; he hadn’t missed Jack’s attempt at a subtle change in topic.

Jack wrenched the door open, with a little more force than strictly necessary. “Get in,” he instructed firmly, the tone of his voice leaving no room for argument.

Ianto sighed heavily and obeyed Jack, sliding into the passenger seat and closing the door behind him. He waited until Jack had started the engine and pulled away from the warehouse – at breakneck speed – before he began to speak again, “I joined the Time Agency on August 21st 5078; two days after my twenty first birthday. I was six months into my Time Agent contract when they moved me down to Floor –2.”

Jack took his eyes away from the road briefly and glanced at Ianto blankly, before turning his attention back to the windscreen. 

“You don’t even remember that?” Ianto almost shrieked in disbelief. Jack shook his head before turning his eyes back to the road, and Ianto sighed impatiently. “Floor –2 was where only the elite Time Agents were sent,” he stated with a bored tone in his voice. “If you were sent there you were considered the best of the best.”

“They were then trained to carry out exclusive covert missions. Their first priority and aim was the kill shot. You’d been there for six months already and you were instructed to train me.”

Jack’s grip on the steering wheel tightened and his voice was tense when he quietly asked, “I was part of this elite?”

Ianto nodded his head, remaining silent as he studied the various lights and dials on the dashboard. He wasn’t really interested in them; he merely needed time to collect his thoughts before he continued. “After eighteen months I got deployed on a mission. You were going to stay at the Agency and continue training new recruits.” 

“When I got back, you were gone. No one knew where you were. I hacked into the Agency’s files to try and find you; but you didn’t even exist. Someone had wiped every piece of information about you from the records.”

Jack’s head was swimming from the amount of information being poured over his head. What Ianto was saying made sense, in a strange kind of way, but there was still something that was bugging Jack. “How did you find me then?” he whispered. “There’s no way you could have tracked me using that,” he nodded to Ianto’s Vortex Manipulator.

“You’ve been gone for two years,” Ianto informed him. “I’ve been going through the history files ever since; trying to find something that would give me some clue about where you’d gone. I figured that you’d have to have travelled through time without authorisation for the Agency to have taken such steps to ensure your records were deleted.”

He fell quiet and looked out of the window, watching as the city moved past them; houses and shops blurring into one as the car sped past. “Five months ago I found a reference to Torchwood and their head office being run by a former Time Agent in the past. I knew it was a long shot but… with happened to the Agency after you left, I needed to find you. To warn you.”

The car jerked forward when Jack slammed the brakes on, narrowly avoiding colliding with a convertible blue sports car. “Idiot!” Jack growled, jabbing the horn with the heel of his hand, earning him the other driver’s middle finger in response. Jack instantly recognised who the licence plate belonged to and he would be having words with Owen in the morning.

“Why do you need to warn me?” Jack demanded, once he had recovered from the potential crash.

Ianto frowned deeply as he remembered the details of what had happened to the Agency. “Can that wait?” he asked quietly, not wanting to relieve that particular memory at that moment. “I think one story at once would be advisable, don’t you? Besides, you still don’t believe I’m telling the truth,” he whispered, looking down at his hands.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you,” Jack shook his head, surprising himself when he realised he was telling the truth. “It’s just… complicated, that’s all. Very complicated.”

He didn’t elaborate on what was complicated because, even though he found himself believing some of what Ianto was saying, it still seemed very far-fetched to Jack. But deep down inside he knew there was every possibility Ianto was telling the truth. His memories had been stolen – two years of them. It was entirely possible he could have known Ianto during those missing years. 

Ianto was speaking again and Jack had to shake his head to force himself to pay attention. “The files didn’t mention anything about there being more than one Torchwood branch. So when I arrived in the twenty-first century, I was surprised to find out that there were three-,”

“Four,” Jack corrected. “London, Glasgow, Cardiff and… Well, we don’t know where four has gone.”

Ianto rolled his eyes. “Okay, I didn’t realise there were four branches and I arrived in London, expecting you to be there. I’ve been there ever since, trying to find you.”

“I’m in charge of research and one day when I got back to my office, I checked the CCTV and saw you outside my door earlier that day. I couldn’t believe I had missed you.” He rolled his eyes. “It took me ages to find where you were stationed… They really don’t like you in London, do they? But I eventually managed to find out that you were here.”

The car stopped and Ianto looked up at the building in front of them. The flashing hotel sign was bright against the night sky and made his eyes sting a little.

“I…” Jack shook his head. “What you’re saying… I understand it; it makes sense in a bizarre way. But, I can’t just accept that you’re telling the truth. I’ve been lied to so many times in the past that I can’t just take something for its face value.”

Ianto nodded and opened the car door, making to exit the vehicle. He stopped when he felt a hand on his arm, turning his head back to look at Jack questioningly.

“I’m sorry,” the older man whispered, truly meaning what he was saying. “I just… Give me time. There are things I need to think about.”

~

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

Suzie Costello looked up in surprise when she heard the invisible lift activate above her head. Her hand reached for the weapon she had been working on all evening; it was a tripled edged knife and made of some kind of alien metal. 

As the lift slowly began its descent from the Roald Dahl Plass down to the base of the water tower, Suzie’s mind began to run through who could be coming down. She doubted it was Owen or Tosh; they’d gone home for the evening hours before and, while she wouldn’t be surprised if Tosh returned, she knew there was no way Owen would come back before he had to.

She wondered if – hoped that – it was Jack returning to watch over the Rift during the night; even though he had told them he wouldn’t be back until the early hours. A quick look at her watch told Suzie that it already was the early hours of the morning. She had been so engrossed in her work that she had lost track of time.

The weapons expert let out an involuntary scream when a pterodactyl flew away from the lift. She watched in confusion as it darted around the top layers of the Hub, looking for all the world like an excited puppy, who had just been brought home for the first time.

Jack let out a weary laugh and hopped down when the lift reached the bottom. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya’,” he grinned, crossing over to his office.

“You brought home a dinosaur?” Suzie asked her boss incredulously. “That’s… different. Where did it come from?”

The Captain shrugged his coat off and threw it on a nearby hook. “No idea,” he replied honestly. “Found her in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. My guess is it that it flew through the Rift; isn’t that how most things end up in Cardiff? She seems to like it here though,” he commented.

Both he and Suzie watched as the creature flew to the roof before allowing itself to fall down. Suzie winced, waiting for the inevitable splat when the dinosaur hit the ground. It never came; ten feet away from the ground, she flapped her wings, slowing her decent and flying upward once more, crying happily as she continued playing.

“Only you would bring home a crazy dinosaur, Jack,” Suzie murmured with a shake of her head.

“Hey!” Jack cried defensively. “This is Torchwood, she’ll fit in perfectly,” he laughed, shoving his hands in his pockets and heading into his office. “Were you heading home?” he called back through the open door.

Suzie nodded her head and dug around in her bag, pulling out her car keys. “Tosh and Owen have already left… Not together, mind you.” She rolled her eyes, “I swear the day Owen realises that she likes him, he’ll probably be dead and won’t be able to do anything about it.”

Jack laughed distractedly. “Suzie?” he called, sticking his head out of the office. The young woman turned and looked at him questioningly. “You don’t know your way around the archives, do you?” he asked, looking at her with a hopeful smile.

She shook her head. “Nope. Sorry,” she added, heading through the door. “Night!” she called as she disappeared out of sight.

~

Jack paused at the entrance to the lower archives and took a deep breath. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been brave enough to venture into them; and, when he did, he only went into the top levels to drop paperwork off, before fleeing back to the main Hub.

As far as he knew, there hadn’t been one member of any Torchwood team that had been particularly adept at organisation. And, as a result, Jack was almost terrified to see what the lower levels looked like.

It took Jack ten minutes to reach the lower levels and he winced when he pushed the door open and saw exactly how unorganised they were. It would take him hours to find anything that could possibly help him with his memories.

As he wandered through the shelves, Jack’s mind wandered back to the state of the archives. He didn’t even know what half of the objects down there actually did. He briefly considered the idea of hiring someone to organise them. 

The thought that Ianto – who, despite everything else, was a head researcher in London – might want the job flickered across Jack’s mind before he shook his head, pushing the thought to the back of his mind. He had more pressing matters than organisation at the moment. 

Two hours and several wrong turns later Jack had found three items – buried at the at the bottom of a large box - that looked like they would have the potential to help him. Jack gathered the objects in his arms, struggling to avoid dropping them as he carted them back up to his office.

With a groan he placed them on his desk and grabbed the first one, turning it this way and then that as he inspected it. The device was rectangular in shape and was actually heavier than it looked. In the dim light of the archives, it had been difficult to make out what it was exactly.

In the harsh light of his office, Jack sighed and placed the object back on the desk; knowing what the object was now that he could actually see properly. The object turned out to be a toaster; an alien toaster from the planet Malonaltion, if Jack remembered correctly.

The second item was just as worthless to him. It was circular and it’s rough texture made Jack’s skin crawl. Throwing that one to the side, not wanting to hold it any more, he sighed and looked at the remaining object sitting on his desk.

It looked like a hand held computer game, Jack thought to himself as he studied it, about six inches in width and two inches tall. The red buttons seemed to almost light up against the black background of the framework.

Jack slowly sank into his chair and picked the object up. It felt pretty heavy in his hands, but the material it was made of seemed so fragile he was barely brave enough to continue holding it.

The file that accompanied the objected was dated 1883; six years before Jack had been forced into service with Torchwood. The slanted handwriting claimed that the device was incredibly dangerous and could be potentially fatal to those who activated it.

Jack turned the object over in his hands, trying to still his emotions and allow himself to think clearly. There was barely anything written in the file about what the machine could possibly be for and, down in the archives, Jack had almost dismissed it until he noticed a small notation in the margin of the last page that said it could possibly be a device for tampering with people’s memories.

Jack had been hesitant to use the machine when he didn’t know what it would do, but the promise of what he could get back if it worked, was almost too overwhelming for the Captain.

He had spent years after leaving the Time Agency trying to come to terms with what they had done. Their violation of his trust and mind had left him completely devastated and provided him with the thirst to gain his revenge. 

What Ianto had told him made a strange kind of sense to Jack. He had never heard of the Agency being a cover for a secret organisation, but Ianto had said Jack had been on ‘Floor –2’ for six months prior to meeting him and then spent another eighteen months there.

With exactly two years of his memories missing and no other way of finding out the truth, Jack knew he had no choice but to try the machine in his hands and hope it worked like he thought it would.

Taking a deep breath he placed his thumbs over the two square buttons on either side, not pressing them just yet. His heart was beating erratically and he tried to focus on his breathing in an attempt to calm himself down.

When the buttons were pressed, Jack screamed in pain as he felt his hands practically melt into the plastic of the device. Trying to tug his hands away proved futile and over served to strengthen the pain he felt; he had no choice but to hold on, and let the machine do its job.

An unpleasant tingling sensation began to spread from the tips of his fingers, heading up his arms, across his shoulders and continuing up his neck. His nerves felt as though they were on fire; every fibre of his being hurt and Jack wanted nothing more than for it to be over.

His eyes squeezed shut in pain and he felt tears fall from his eyes when he felt a stabbing pain shoot through his brain, diving through to the core of his mind. His brain was being torn into tiny pieces, he was sure of it. It felt as though someone was rearranging his thoughts in a particularly violent manner.

The device began to emit electrical currents at an alarming rate; all of which followed the same route to his brain as the tingling feeling. As each wave of currents entered his brain, Jack jerked; crying out each time he felt the energy enter his brain.

One particularly strong current broke away the previous path, crossing Jack’s chest heading directly for his heart.

Immediately, Jack’s head fell back, hanging limply over the back of his chair. His hand fell to the side, finally managing to relinquish his grip on the device. The machine slid from Jack’s dead fingers, falling to the ground and breaking into small irreparable pieces. 

~

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a flashback.

Chapter 4

_Cleaning his gun wasn’t so much a chore as a necessity to an assassin, Will had always told his students. Their weapons were the things they depended on; their aim had to be as sharp as their minds and no one could afford to let their guards down on a mission. If a single student slipped in the maintaining of their weapon, Will had made it clear from day one that he would humiliate them in front of the entire class._

_Will reached out for the bottle of gun oil, smiling to himself as he flicked the lid open and sniffed the liquid inside. His friends in the Agency thought he was strange, but he loved cleaning his weapons manually. All their wristbands had settings programmed to keep their guns clean. But, to Will, there was something so delicate and intimate about knowing every curve and feel of the barrel._

_Behind him, a door opened and light filtered into the room from the doorway. “Will, what are you still doing up?” a tired voice asked wearily._

_The Time Agent looked up and allowed his gaze to travel across the room to where his lover was leaning against their bedroom door; the light emitting from the bedroom making Ianto's naked frame look like some kind of celestial being._

_“What time is it?” he answered the other man’s question with one of his own._

_Ianto yawned widely and crossed the room, flicking on the main light as he moved, illuminating the living quarters that Will had been provided with by the Agency. “Almost two,” he whispered, stopping behind him, running his hands over his shoulder blades._

_“I…” Will reached back and squeezed one of Ianto's hands before reverently putting the gun back on the table in front of him. “Sorry,” he apologised, getting to his feet and turning around in Ianto's arms. “I lost track of time.”_

_Ianto smirked and pressed their lips together gently, too tired for the kiss to be anything other than sleepy. “There’s a joke there about Time Agents loosing track of time, but…”_

_Will rolled his eyes and flicked off the small lamp he had been sat next to. “Your sense of humour needs to be worked on,” he advised him, following Ianto towards the bedroom, closing the door behind him and plunging the living area into darkness._

_~_

_As a group they were trained to work as a team, working in unison with other agents in a joint effort to eliminate any potential threat. Twice a week each agent was required to attend one-on-one training with their instructor; improving their skills should they ever find themselves alone in a life-threatening situation._

_Will knew he was a strict instructor, sometimes going beyond that and almost pushing people over their boundaries. But he also knew that he was the best instructor the Agency had for that very same reason. He refused to be lenient with his trainees, just because they were new. Enemies would be harsh on them and they needed to be prepared for any eventuality._

_Ianto Jones had been the first student to fully rise to the challenge and look Will in the eyes when he got in the younger man’s face. The slightly argumentative tone in Ianto's voice when they spoke made a refreshing change to the submissive ‘yes, sir’ that he usually received from his trainees. And the challenge Will saw whenever he looked in Ianto's eyes warmed something deep inside of the older Time Agent._

_The other man’s confidence – or was it cockiness? – combined with the undeniable chemistry that crackled between them, had made their training sessions all the more intense and a wonderful thing to observe._

_Of course, from the moment they began sleeping with each other, the charge of the air around them changed significantly and to watch them felt as though one were intruding on something immensely intimate._

_Ianto's ear-protectors were hanging around his neck as he turned to his side and studied the targets on the end of the room, weighing up which would be the best ones to start with._

_Behind him he could hear Will making a disapproving noise, before he felt his body slide behind his own. He didn’t turn, nor give any indication that he knew Will was there; even when he felt two strong hands on his hips, pulling him back against a firm body._

_“You know, this is classed as harassment, Sir,” Ianto whispered, adding the ‘sir’ comment because he knew how hot under the collar it made Will get._

_As predicted, Ianto heard a purr from behind him, Will’s chest vibrating against his back as he felt a pair of soft lips descend on his shoulder. Will’s hand slid around their bodies, pulling Ianto even further back against his own body._

_“It’s only harassment if the second party doesn’t appreciate the advances,” Will murmured, tightening his grip on Ianto's hips, correcting his stance before taking a step back. “Try now,” he instructed, folding his arms over his chest._

_With an expertise well perfected, Ianto brought the gun up, took a controlled breath and squeezed the trigger, hitting the cardboard cut-out in the centre cluster of eyes._

_“Not bad,” Will nodded, stepping closer once more and taking the gun from Ianto._

_Ianto turned around and glared at him. “‘Not bad’?” he repeated incredulously. “That was a perfect shot and you know it.”_

_Will shook his head, throwing him a disapproving look. “There’s no such thing as a perfect shot. If I gave you compliments like that, you’d get complacent and complacency gets people killed.”_

_The younger man sighed and tugged his protective gear off. “Boy, you do know how to darken the mood, don’t you?” he scowled, throwing the eye shields on to the workbench._

_“I’m sorry,” Will whispered, placing a hand on Ianto's shoulder, slowly turning the other man around to face him. “I have to be harsh on you. I just… I worry about you,” he eventually added, looking into Ianto gorgeous eyes._

_Ianto threaded his hands through Will’s hair, twisting the short strands around his fingers as he spoke. “I know you do,” he murmured, his lips barely an inch away from his lover’s. “But you’ve got to remember that I’m good at this; I know what I’m doing.”_

_A laugh escaped Will and he closed the remaining distance between them, kissing Ianto hotly. “Is that why you’ve been so eager for the extra training sessions?”_

_The student joined in laughing with his tutor as he turned them around. “Nope,” he disagreed, pushing Will back against the partition separating the firing compartments. “This is why,” he added, sliding his hands down Will’s chest to his groin._

_Will let out a throaty moan and gripped at the edge of the partition with one hand and Ianto's shoulder with the other when Ianto firmly pressed his palm against the other man’s growing erection._

_“God…” Will gasped, trying to regulate his breathing as Ianto unfastened his trousers and pushed them to the ground. “You’re going to kill me one of these days.”_

_Ianto looked up from where he had been focusing on Will’s trousers and met his steamy gaze. “Well, we can’t have that, can we?” he whispered, offering Will a smirk before falling gracefully to his knees, setting about the task of making Will scream._

_~  
_

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Two minutes and twenty seconds after using the device, Jack felt the familiar pulling around his heart: something invisible dragging him back from the darkness, and forcing him in to the living world once more.

With a painful intake of breath, Jack jerked forward in his chair as he was roughly being thrown back in to life, only just managing to stop himself from falling to the ground.

In that first moment of life, Jack couldn’t remember the events that had lead up to his most recent demise, until his eyes fell on the broken alien device lying at his feet. 

With a sigh, Jack reached down and picked up the largest piece he could find; which was no bigger than a fifty pence piece. He sighed deeply again, knowing that this device had been his left hope of truly restoring the memories that had been stolen from him by the Time Agency. 

Jack threw the piece on to his desk and got to his feet, intending to head to the roof of the Millennium Centre to think and enjoy the fresh pre-dawn air as he… well, sulked was probably the right word for what Jack wanted to do.

It was only when he reached his office door that he realised he could remember his days as an assassin trainer as clear as though they were yesterday. Everything Ianto had told him was the truth, he knew that for certain now and he wasn’t going to let Ianto slip away from him; not considering everything else he remembered about the other man. 

~

It didn’t take long for Jack to charm Ianto's room number out of the hotel staff and soon he was heading up in the elevator and striding confidently down the corridors, looking for the right room.

Only when he was stood in front of the door did Jack pause, suddenly feeling uncertain of himself. He could remember wanting Ianto in the past and he knew he was definitely attracted to him now, but would the other man still feel the same?

Swallowing his nerves Jack pounded on the door. When he didn’t get an answer immediately, he increased the strength and frequency of his knocking. 

“What the hell!” Ianto cried, wrenching the door open and almost getting smacked by Jack, who was mid knock when the door moved. “Will? You do know it’s three am, don’t you?”

Jack remained silent, stepping across the threshold and moving closer to Ianto, whose breath hitched at the closeness of the Captain’s body. He still didn’t speak as he cupped Ianto's face with his hands. “You didn’t tell me that we were together,” he finally whispered, running his thumbs over Ianto’s cheekbones.

Ianto frowned before recognition dawned in his eyes, as he realised the implications of Jack’s words. “You remember,” he stated when Jack brought their faces together, allowing their lips to meet with a tenderness that was almost too much to bear.

“I remember,” Jack agreed, before their lips parted and Ianto felt Jack’s tongue brush against his own.

The younger Time Agent turned them around and pressed his body firmly against Jack’s, pushing him back against the wall and rubbing against him teasingly. “Will…” he breathed, his words almost lost in Jack’s mouth.

Too aroused to correct him, Jack kicked the door closed and slid his hands down Ianto's back, grabbing his arse and roughly dragging him closer, groaning at the friction he felt on his cock.

Never breaking the kiss, Ianto reached up and pushed Jack’s greatcoat off his shoulders, allowing it to fall to the floor. Gently he urged the other man in the direction of the bed, only pulling away when the back of Jack’s calves hit the bed.

Ianto smiled at Jack and ran his hands up his chest, tugging the grey braces off and pulling Jack’s dark blue shirt from where it was tucked into his charcoal grey trousers. He quickly unfastened the buttons, too eager to touch the skin underneath to try and tease Jack.

Their lips met again, tongues immediately seeking each other out. Jack groaned into Ianto's mouth when he felt the other man’s hands running up his chest, teasing his nipples as they pushed the shirt on to the floor.

Jack allowed Ianto to push him onto the bed and he crawled back against the pillows, watching with dark eyes as Ianto pulled his own pyjama bottoms off. 

Ianto reached over and unfastened Jack’s trousers, pulling them and his underwear down and throwing them across the room, barely noticing the noise they made when they collided with the window. All his attention was focused on the gorgeous man underneath him.

~

It was when Jack’s breathing managed to regulate itself that he realised he was lying on the bottle of lube Ianto had discarded a few hours earlier. With a groan he managed to lift himself an inch off the bed, enough to allow his hand to retrieve the bottle and toss it to the side.

He yawned widely and turned his head towards Ianto. The younger man was leaning up on his elbow, looking down at Jack with a look that both scared and thrilled the former RAF pilot. 

“I don’t get it,” Ianto eventually admitted, his fingers toying idly with the fine hair on Jack’s chest.

“Don’t get what?” he mumbled, closing his eyes and focusing on the gorgeous tones of the other man’s – his lover’s? – voice.

“Why you didn’t remember,” Ianto replied, flopping onto his back and sliding further under the covers, staring at the ceiling above them. “It’s just… earlier you said you didn’t believe me and a few hours later you show up at my door claiming to remember? It doesn’t make sense, Will.”

Jack sighed and mirrored Ianto's previous position, leaning up on his elbow and looking down at the other man. “I used something to unlock the memories.” He shrugged, “I don’t know what it was but, it doesn’t matter anyway; it broke when I used it.”

“And, please stop calling me that,” he added, falling back on to the bed and closing his eyes. “My name is Jack now; Captain Jack Harkness. I stopped using that name a long time ago.”

“No,” Ianto said simply, an argumentative tone in his voice that Jack found very familiar. Jack eyes opened and he looked at Ianto questioningly. “I refuse to call you something other than your name, Will,” Ianto continued. “I don’t mind calling you ‘Jack’ in public, but don’t ask me to lie in private.”

“I don’t care how many times you’ve changed your name since we last saw each other. Your name is ‘Will’ and that’s what I’m going to call you.”

A moment of silence passed between them, before Jack softly added, “It’s not just my name that’s changed. I’m not the same person I was back then, Ianto.”

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Ianto was leaning up on one elbow, watching as Jack wandered naked around the room, retrieving his clothes from various areas of the room.

“You don’t have to go, you know?” he murmured, tilting his head to the side to admire the view when Jack bent to pick up his trousers.

“Yeah, I do,” Jack argued distractedly. “The rest of the team will be at work already; they’ll wonder where I am.”

Ianto pushed himself into an upright position and rested his elbows on his knees. “They can survive one day without you, surely?” He rolled his eyes and got to his feet, pulling open a drawer and taking out some fresh clothes.

The Captain turned to face the other man, his shirt half-buttoned and teasing Ianto with glimpses of the delicious flesh underneath. “They can survive without me, but I have a job to do; a duty to protect them.”

His statement seemed to stun Ianto and they continued dressing in silence for a while, until Jack’s com-unit beeped from somewhere in the room. A five-minute manhunt followed as both Time Agents tried to remember where the earpiece had fallen the night before.

Ianto was lying on the bed, hanging half off the end as he looked underneath when he let out a cry of triumph. “Found it,” he announced, reaching down and grabbing it.

Jack offered him a grateful smile and slid the device on to his ear, immediately activating the technology. “Yeah?” Ianto watched as the other man fell silent, before he added, “I’m on my way. Will be there in twenty minutes.”

“Now you really do have to go, don’t you?” Ianto sighed and moved closer to Jack, stepping fully into his personal space.

He nodded and kissed Ianto hotly. “Yeah,” he agreed, throwing on his greatcoat and heading to the door. “You know…?” Jack said conversationally, stopping in the doorway. “You could come with me, if you want.”

~

As they drove through the centre of Cardiff, Ianto decided something. He hated traffic; and he lived in London, he was used to the annoyance of traffic jams and maniac drivers. A few crashed cars blocking the middle of the road should not annoy him as much as they currently were.

Looking over at Jack, he determined that he was just as irritated as Ianto. Although, it seemed as though the Captain was more anxious to get to work; whereas, Ianto just hated being stuck in one spot and not being able to move when he wanted.

With a growl Jack spun the wheel and pressed his foot hard onto the accelerator. The car jerked uncomfortably when it mounted the kerb and only narrowly missed a Mini Cooper as it tore off down the street. 

“Maniacs,” he heard Jack mutter under his breath as he turned down a side street, seemingly deciding he was through with main roads.

“Your driving style hasn’t changed much,” Ianto commented, resting his hand against the dashboard in an attempt to stop himself being thrown about too much. Even with his seat belt on, he felt as though he was on a roller coaster.

Jack turned his head to glare at Ianto, and that split second nearly caused them to collide with someone who suddenly stepped into the road; in a manner almost identical to the way he had caught Jack’s attention, Ianto noted in the back of his mind.

“Will!” he cried, pointing to the road in front of the SUV.

Jack immediately slammed his foot down on the brakes, making them both lurch forward in their seats as the car skidded to a halt several feet away from the person.

“What is that?” Ianto demanded when the person’s lips pulled back, revealing horribly wide jaws and spiked teeth.

A groan fell from Jack’s mouth as he hurriedly unfastened his seat belt. By the time Jack had reached into the back and retrieved what looked like a small aerosol of air freshener, the creature had already moved away from the car and was heading in to a nearby park.

“A Weevil!” Jack cried, throwing open the car door and climbing out, Ianto following him quickly.

“What’s a Weevil?” Ianto demanded, running to catch up with Jack who was already in hot pursuit of the creature. 

“That is… It’s an alien,” Jack explained breathlessly, jumping over a fence and crossing the tarmac.

The alien was already at the swings by the time Jack reached the playing area and the Captain was suddenly glad it was early in the morning and there were no innocent children around to be witnesses – or targets.

Sensing there was nowhere to run, the Weevil lunged at Jack, knocking him to the ground. In the scuffle, Jack dropped the Weevil spray and the aerosol rolled away from them. Seeing the action, Ianto tried to move around Jack and the Weevil to retrieve it, but the alien sensed his movements and lifted its head. 

Frozen in place, Ianto watched as it smelled the air curiously, trying to decide whether he was a threat or not.

Jack, seeing that the Weevil was distracted, used this to his advantage; tackling the creature to the ground. They rolled around, before colliding into the roundabout with a painful crunch. The Weevil made a move for Jack’s throat and Ianto knew he had to do something to help; but he couldn’t reach the spray without being spotted by the Weevil.

He took a step forward and felt his foot touch something. Looking down, he smiled when he spotted Jack’s gun lying on the ground; clearly it had fallen from its holster as the Captain wrestled with the alien.

The sound of a gunshot tore through the air and Jack felt the Weevil go limp in his arms, its dead weight slumping against him and almost knocking any remaining air from his lungs.

Pushing the now dead alien off of him, Jack jumped to his feet and saw Ianto holding his still-smoking Webley in his hand. “What the hell was that?” he demanded, advancing on the younger man.

“I know,” Ianto shrugged, lowering the weapon. “I hesitated.”

“I’m not talking about your technique, Ianto! I’m talking about your method!” Jack cried.

Ianto's eyes narrowed. “I saved your life, Will,” he reasoned. “What’s one less alien in the world?”

Jack was now mere inches away from Ianto and he snatched his gun back. “I see you’ve picked up Torchwood One’s ideas of ‘shoot first, ask questions later’. You could have used the Weevil spray; there was no need to kill it!”

Their faces were now so close that Jack could feel Ianto's breath on his mouth and chin; the fury Ianto felt, making him breathe heavier and deeper. “It was attacking. There was every reason to kill it, before it killed you. I eliminated the threat; wasn’t that the first thing you taught me?”

Placing his hands in the centre of Jack’s chest, Ianto pushed him back a little and Jack had to recover quickly to stop himself from falling onto his back. “I’m a killer, Will. I was trained to be this way by you.”

“I’ve already told you, things have changed,” Jack said, heaving a sigh and running a hand through his hair. “You can’t just go around killing creatures. I don’t know how things work in London, but here in Cardiff we do things a little differently.”

“Obviously,” Ianto commented dryly, stalking across the playground. At the gate, he paused and turned back to Jack. “You were right,” he said softly, his voice so quiet it was almost lost in the sounds of the road just beyond the tree line. 

“You have changed, Will. Two years ago you wouldn’t have hesitated in killing that,” he nodded towards the Weevil’s body. “You’re clearly not the same man I thought you were. I don’t know who you are anymore. Coming here was a mistake.”

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Toshiko Sato didn’t even look up from her computer monitor as she heard a crash come from her boss’s office, followed by a string of curses - most of which weren’t even in English.

She was used to his temper tantrums by now. It hadn’t taken her long to realise that, working for Torchwood Three, there were certain things about Captain Jack Harkness she just wasn’t meant to understand. And there were even some things about him that Suzie didn’t seem to know; and she’d been working for Jack longer than the rest of them.

In the past few months, the rule of ‘ask no questions’ seemed to be even more important than before.

Ever since he had returned with the body of a dead Weevil, Jack had been different. He seemed to think that distancing himself from the rest of his team and being cold to the rest of them would help his problems; whatever they were.

Tosh knew she was the only one who had noticed his odd behaviour. Suzie was too wrapped up in organising a search of the harbour for any alien artefacts that may have fallen through the rift; and Owen was too busy shagging his way through the female population of Cardiff to even think about paying attention to anything else.

Jack exited his office and crossed the room, heading directly for Tosh’s workstation. “Where are the others?” he demanded, not bothering with pleasantries as he moved to stand behind her, placing his hands on the back of her chair.

“Owen’s trying to find commonalties between that alien we caught last night and the one we found behind the Millennium Centre a few weeks ago.” She nodded in the direction of the autopsy bay, where Jack could just about see Owen bent over a corpse if he craned his neck.

“Suzie said she would be in the archives trying to find something to help us scan the bay.”

The smile she received from Jack was tight and forced, and she wondered why he had immediately become defensive at the word ‘archives’. “When does the ghost shift start?” he changed the subject.

After tapping several keys on the keyboard in front of her, Tosh determined that the ‘ghost shift’ would begin in approximately two minutes. 

“I keep trying to get answers from Torchwood One, but they never reply. It’s like they don’t see anything wrong with what they’re doing,” she told him, checking her emails again, just in case there had been a response since the last time she’d checked. As expected, there was nothing from anyone in London.

Jack placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently as she pulled up footage from various CCTV cameras around the city. “That’s because Yvonne has tunnel vision. London has to be the biggest and best institute there is.”

As predicted, the ghost shift started moments later. Faint outlines of human shaped figures appearing out of thin air. Many people around the world thought these beings were the spirits of their dead relatives returning from beyond the grave. Jack was slightly more cynical, and refused to let his team out of the Hub when an appearance by these things was due.

Together Jack and Tosh watched in horror as the faint images became clearer and clearer; slowly altering their shape until what remained were large, wide shouldered men, wearing, what looked like steel body armour.

“Jack, what are those?” the Japanese woman asked, her voice hitching up a little with panic as she looked at the unfamiliar figures.

Jack, whose naturally tanned complexion had paled the instant he spotted the metal men, seemed to snap out his daze at Tosh’s voice. Not answering her question, he tapped his earpiece and sharply instructed the remainder of his team to return the centre of the Hub.

Suzie was the last to arrive and when she got there Jack was already throwing on his greatcoat and gathering an arsenal of weapons. “What’s going on?” she demanded.

He momentarily ignored her question and looked to Tosh questioningly. “Can you tell where the energy source originated from?” he demanded.

“The same place it always does,” she informed him with a small sigh. “Torchwood Tower.”

Jack swore loudly and proceeded to stomp down the stairs, heading for the door that led to the Torchwood garage. 

“Jack!” Suzie cried as he reached the door, making the Captain stop in his tracks at the tone of her voice. “Tell us what’s going on!” she instructed when he turned to face her.

Jack raised an eyebrow at being ordered around, before sighing heavily. “Those,” Jack pointed over to the monitors, “are Cybermen. They’re extremely strong and ruthless. They can’t differentiate between good guys and bad guys. Everyone they touch will be deleted… or worse.”

“Where are you going?”

Jack turned and pulled open the large door. “I need to get to London; they’re the ones that created this mess and they’re the only ones that have the power to fix it. I need to make them see reason if I can. Tosh?” he called, a thought just occurring to him as dread filled his stomach.

The Japanese woman looked at him curiously from where she was still sat at her workstation. “Check the heat signatures for the Hub,” he ordered.

She nodded her head and turned back to her computer. “The systems are just registering us four, and the pterodactyl.”

He let out a sigh of relief. “Good, they’re not in the Hub. When I get out of the garage I want this place sealed. Complete lockdown. No one comes in or goes out until I tell you otherwise.”

Jack looked around at his team, making eye contact with each of them, ensuring they all understood their orders, before heading through the door. Once it was sealed behind him, the rest of the team returned to the computers to watch his progress.

He jogged down the tunnel separating the main Hub from the garage where they kept the SUV parked at all times. It was hidden underneath the Millennium Centre, tucked away securely behind a wall, which slid firmly back into place once Jack drove past. No one could get past that; mainly because no one knew it was there.

The barrier for the car park was down but Jack didn’t care. He pressed his foot flat against the accelerator and braced himself against the back of the seat as he drove straight through the thin wooden beam in his path, sending splinters of wood in every direction.

As he feared, there were Cybermen all over Roald Dahl Plass and the surrounding streets. He watched, his stomach twisting uncomfortably as they moved as one; forming some kind of twisted parade as they moved through the streets. Some of them broke away from the others and headed down side streets, probably looking for people to convert.

Several of them tried to stop the SUV as it barrelled down the streets, but Jack wasn’t about to give them chance to get close enough to do any damage other than scratching the paint-work; which he knew he’d get in shit for from Logan in Torchwood’s Glasgow accounting office. 

Not taking his foot off the accelerator, Jack twisted the steering wheel this way and that, weaving his way in and out of the Cybermen – even managing to bowl a few over in the process.

He let out a sigh of relief when he eventually managed to leave the city and get onto the motorway. The relief turned into annoyance when he spotted the number of vehicles on the road.

Cars were packed bumper to bumper and the sound of people leaning on their horns, trying to urge people to move, filled the air. Jack rolled his eyes at people’s stupidity; it was clear there was nowhere for them to go, so he didn’t know why they were even bothering.

If Jack were driving any car other than the SUV he would have been alarmed at the sight of the traffic jams. Instead he wasn’t too bothered by the traffic as he reached over and flicked a small button that was almost unnoticeable. Tosh had taken her initiative and installed a function to the car in order to make it more suitable for off-road driving.

A lot of angry shouts turned his way when he activated the flashing blue lights and pulled the car off the road, on to the hard shoulder and the grassy banks, zooming past the annoyed drivers.

Tapping his com-unit Jack tried to contact the Hub. He let out a sigh of relief when he only received static in response. He was worried about the team, but knew that the static meant Tosh had done precisely what he had ordered her to. The Hub going into lockdown disabled all means of communication; Torchwood Three were sealed inside their own base.

~

To Jack’s surprise, the streets of London were deserted when he eventually arrived a few hours later. He had been expecting there to be riots and mass panic; but everyone seemed to have reacted the opposite was and shut themselves in their homes. 

Screeching around the corner, the SUV skidded to a stop outside Torchwood Tower; a thick cloud of dust coming from the tires as he slammed on the brakes. Not bothering to take the key out of the ignition, Jack threw the door open and jumped out.

When he tried to enter the building, a guard on the door placed a hand in the centre of his chest, stopping him from going any further. “Sorry, sir, authorised personnel only.”

Jack raised an eyebrow and ran his eyes up and down the length of the young man’s body, not bothering to make any effort to hide what he was doing. He couldn’t have been older than eighteen and Jack noticed he had a smear of blood splattered across his cheek.

“I’m Torchwood,” Jack informed him, offering him a tight smile. The young man’s confidence faltered a little and Jack saw his opening. “Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood Cardiff,” he introduced himself, flashing the other man his trademark smile.

A flash of recognition flickered over the guard’s face and he visibly relaxed. “Oh,” he breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness you got here as soon as you did, Sir. Everything went to Hell so quickly, there was nothing any one could do to prevent it.”

Jack bit down the retort about how the whole mess could have been avoided in the first place and looked around at the empty streets. “The Cybermen, what happened to them?” 

The guard looked up at the top of the Tower. “Both them and those other creatures - the Daleks - just kind of… disappeared. They flew into the top of the Tower and that was it. That man said not to panic, that everything was over.”

“What man?”

“The man in the suit, he called himself a doctor. I can’t remember what he said he was a doctor of though.” The guard frowned as he tried to think.

“Is he still here?” Jack asked urgently, knowing that the doctor the guard was referring to was the Doctor. 

He shook his head. “He disappeared just after the Daleks and Cybermen.” The guard reached behind him and grabbed a clipboard. “Here’s a list of casualties, Sir,” he murmured, sadness shining in his eyes.

Jack skimmed the list, realising it wasn’t just a list of the dead as he had originally thought; it was a list of people who were missing, presumed dead. 

_Musa Husam; Kody Korbin; Lisa Hallett; Drew Martyn; Shauna Merritt; Jaylyn Nuta._

The list went on and on for three whole pages. With each name, Jack found himself growing more and more annoyed with Yvonne Hartman’s stupidity and for not realising how much suffering she would cause all these people.

_Rose Tyler._

Jack felt his heart break with those two words and tears welled up in his eyes. The guard had been right when he said the Doctor had been in the Tower; there was no other reason why Rose would have even been there in the first place, if it weren’t for the Doctor.

Despite feeling like his heart couldn’t hurt anymore, when Jack reached the next name of the list he could have sworn he actually felt his heart stop. Clearly written on the page was the person he hadn’t seen in six months: not since the other man had returned to London following a dispute over a Weevil.

_Ianto Jones._

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_Earlier that day_

The sky was overcast and Ianto had a feeling it was going to rain. Which would be just typical when he had caught the Underground to work and left his umbrella at home.

With one hand in his pocket and the other carrying a plastic cup from Starbucks, Ianto used his hip to ease the revolving door to Torchwood Tower around.

Finally withdrawing his hand, Ianto pulled out his ID pass from where it was hanging around his neck, hidden underneath his suit jacket. He flashed the pass at the security guard on the front desk, who barely looked up from his morning bagel as Ianto passed.

Ianto rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket, pulling out another pass that would grant him access to the elevators and various floors beyond the foyer. Why Torchwood, with all their technology, couldn’t incorporate the two passes into one, he couldn’t quite figure out.

Of course, the lift didn’t work the first time he tried. Taking a deep breath and trying to stop himself from getting too wound up early in the morning, Ianto slid the pass into the thin slot and slowly withdrew it. Thankfully, the second time he tried, the small red light turned to green and the lift doors opened.

The electronic pass was needed when Ianto reached the lowest level of Torchwood. He had been trying to persuade Yvonne into moving research onto a different level -preferably one with windows – but the woman was having none of it. The other floors were needed for more important departments apparently.

He slid the pass into his pocket and switching his coffee from one hand to the other, pulled out his keys, searching for the correct one. While every other door in the building had been upgraded to key cards, Ianto's office door still required an actual key. A feature he was glad about, since he didn’t trust the electrical systems in the building.

After he had turned his computer on, Ianto set his drink down and pulled off his jacket, tossing it haphazardly over the back of his chair. With a sigh he slumped down in the seat and stared blankly at the computer screen; watching the tiny blue squares move underneath the Windows logo as it loaded.

It had taken him weeks to learn how to use the ancient Windows system. Not even his Vortex Manipulator had been able to help him. In the fifty-first century the system was so obsolete that no one even knew what the words ‘Windows XP’ meant. When he got back he knew no one would believe him.

When I get back, Ianto thought bitterly as he laughed and shook his head. That was a joke; he couldn’t go home now, or ever. He knew that the instant he returned to the century he had been born and raised in, he would be executed as a murderer.

Ironic, he thought. That the Time Agency had trained him to be cold and ruthless, yet the second things got difficult for them, the bosses revealed their names and all those involved with ‘Floor –2’ without a second thought.

He had tried to warn Will, to persuade him not to return home. Ianto knew the fate that awaited him would apply to the person who trained him as well.

Shaking his head, Ianto leant forward, pushing all thoughts of Will to the back of his mind as he logged on to the computer. The other man had clearly become someone different and it was clear he wanted nothing to do with Ianto now.

~

The door opened and Ianto looked up when he heard a soft knock on the wood. “Knock, knock,” an amused female voice called from behind him.

Already knowing who he would see, Ianto spun his chair around and grinned at Lisa Hallett. She was a researcher on the floor above, but seemed to be spending more and more of her time on his floor with a certain member of his team.

“Morning,” Ianto nodded in greeting, flashing her a smile.

Lisa tutted and shook her head. “It’s one o’clock, Ianto,” she pointed out, making the Head Researcher jerk his head around to the clock.

With a groan, Ianto realised that she was right. He had been so wrapped up in searching their online archives for something Yvonne wanted immediately (i.e. yesterday) that he hadn’t realised what the time was.

“We’re heading up to the cafeteria for lunch. You coming?” she asked, nodding in the direction of the hallway behind her.

Ianto rolled his shoulders, trying to stretch his muscles, before he replied, “Nah, I’ve got to get this information to Yvonne as soon as possible.”

“You can’t let her work you in to the ground, Ianto,” Lisa pointed out, hooking her thumbs into her pockets and leaning against the doorframe.

He laughed and rolled his eyes. “You sound like my mother,” he commented dryly. “I mean it, I’m okay. I don’t know how you can eat the crap they serve up there, anyway.”

“It’s cheaper than anywhere else in this city,” Lisa pointed out.

“You and Dean have a good date.”

“It’s not a date!” Lisa called back to him as she left the small office, heading for Ianto's junior researcher, Dean Hammond’s office a few doors down.

Rolling his eyes once more, Ianto turned back to his computer. Lisa and Dean had been going out with each other for months, but neither of them seemed willing to admit their relationship to the rest of their colleagues. Ianto was sure that was because of Yvonne’s attitudes to inter-office relationships; he wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to ban them completely at next month’s meeting.

Clicking print on the article he just discovered, Ianto opened a new window and began looking for the second article on Yvonne’s ten-page long list. It was going to be a long afternoon; he just knew it.

Thirty minutes later the work was the last thing on Ianto's mind as everything went to hell.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Jack sprinted through the ruined corridors of Torchwood Tower. Some of the upper levels were completely destroyed. The broken pieces of building falling on the floor was clearly putting stress on the foundations and Jack knew the lower levels would be suffering and it wouldn’t be long until the whole building collapsed around. 

Pieces of debris were hung from the roof and as he passed, Jack saw several sparks of electricity from where the wires had been severed and were now exposed.

He pressed his index finger to the com-unit in his ear, hoping that Tosh had taken the Cybermen’s disappearance and taken the Hub out of lockdown, restoring communication lines. “Tosh?”

There were several uncertain seconds when Jack was sure it wasn’t going to work, then he heard a faint crackling on the line and Tosh’s voice ask, “Jack? Thank God you’re okay.”

The Captain assured her he was fine and leapt over a pile of destroyed filing cabinets. “Tosh, can you access Torchwood London’s mainframe from there?”

Jack could hear her fingers tapping away at her keyboard before she responded, “Everything’s down. Whatever happened severed their links to Glasgow and us. Jack, what did happen?”

Not answering her, Jack rounded a corner and tried to open a door, only to find that it was jammed in place. With a sigh he leant against the wall, trying to catch his breath. “Do we have any blueprints of the Tower on file?”

He could almost picture Tosh biting her lip in thought before the sound of keys being pressed quickly sounded. She let out a triumphant cry and Jack couldn’t help smiling at her happiness. “I’ve found some. They’re pretty old - from 2000 - but…”

“They’ll do,” Jack assured her. “I need to get down to the research department.”

“Where are you now?”

Looking around him for something that would help, Jack realised he actually had no idea where he was. “Erm…” He spotted something written on the wall, “Adm…” The rest of the writing was lying at his feet in the rubble of the wall.

“Okay, so assuming that says ‘Administration’,” Tosh reasoned, “you should go left for about ten feet then turn right.”

Jack followed her directions exactly and found himself in the training section. “Take your first right and then keep going.”

He did as he was told and pushed the door open at the end of the corridor, stepping out into the stairwell. “Great. Tosh, up or down?”

“Down,” Tosh replied quickly and confidently. “You need to go down the bottom floor.” 

As he moved, Jack remembered coming this way the last time he had been here. He didn’t say anything to Tosh though, because he didn’t want her to think he was ungrateful and didn’t need his help anymore. 

The door at the bottom of the stairs only opened a few inches and Jack swore loudly as he kicked out in frustration. “Jack?” Tosh asked, her voice rising. “What’s wrong?”

“The door’s stuck,” he muttered. “Hang on.” He took a deep breath and hit the metal door with his shoulder, the painful blow dragging a deep groan from him. But it worked and the door slid open a few more inches, enough to allow Jack space to squeeze through.

He could spot a pile of rubble in one end of the corridor; clearly this area was already beginning to collapse. He had to find Ianto and get out of there as fast as possible. Ianto was his priority; as much as he resented the Doctor, Jack knew he wouldn’t leave Rose to die in a place like this.

Jack pulled his torch out of his pocket and shone it around him, trying various doors and finding them all as jammed as the one he had hurt his shoulder on. 

“Ianto!” he shouted as loud as he could, not liking how his voice echoed in the area around him. When he received silence as an answer, he tapped his com-unit once more and spoke to Tosh. “Is there any other way out of this area? Other than the way I came in?”

A second later Tosh assured him there was only one way out. 

It was unlikely that anyone managed to get out of this disaster alive. But Jack couldn’t bring himself to think that Ianto was dead; the other man had faced much more than a destroyed building, there is no way he would have let this be the end of him.

He tried calling out for his former lover again and this time he was sure he heard something answer him. Jack stopped and listened, straining his ears in an attempt to hear; though nothing sounded.

“Ianto!” he tried once more.

This time the response was more immediate and far clearer than it had been. “Will!”

The breath Jack had been holding suddenly flew out from his lungs, along with every other breath he had when he realised Ianto's voice was coming from underneath the pile of rubble.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked urgently, dropping his torch and rushing forward - not really caring when the light went out. There was sufficient enough light coming from the lights overhead for Jack to make his way over the debris.

Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Jack began to pull the various bits of broken wall away, tossing them carelessly to the side.

“My ankle’s twisted,” Ianto responded, his voice becoming clearer as each piece was moved.

Jack paused in horror when he heard the telltale sound of rubble moving. The pile was beginning to collapse. It wouldn’t be long before it all fell and Ianto was crushed.

The next few minutes passed by torturously slow for both men, each of them anxious to reach the other man as soon as possible.

Eventually Jack managed to free enough of the rubble so Ianto would be able to slid under fairly easily. “Come on,” he instructed, reaching a hand underneath. 

When he felt Ianto's finger close around his wrist, Jack pulled harshly, hissing at the pain that shot through his injured shoulder. With a groan of pain from his wounded ankle, Ianto managed to slide under the rubble, only catching his head once as he moved.

The instant he was free, Ianto collapsed in a heap on the floor, cradled against Jack’s chest as the remaining debris finally succumbed to gravity and tumbled down in front of them.

“Oh, god,” Ianto breathed, trying to regulate his heartbeat as he leant against Jack. “I was… That was too close, Will. Far, far too close.”

“Shh,” Jack soothed, running his hands up Ianto's back and pressing his lips against the other man’s dusty hair. “It’s okay. I got ya’. I got ya’.”

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Much to Ianto's chagrin when the SUV pulled up to the front of his apartment building, Jack refused to let the other man make his own way into the complex. The former Time Agent went out of his way to make sure that Ianto wasn’t putting any weight whatsoever on his injured foot as he limped through to the elevator.

When instructed, Jack pressed the button for Ianto's floor and the doors slid closed. Ianto immediately wrenched his arm from Jack’s grip, leaning back against the mirrored wall to steady himself.

“I’m a big boy, Will. I think I can walk.”

Jack bit down the smirk that was threatening to form at the first few words and shook his head. “Ianto, you were just buried under a pile of rubble in the aftermath of a Cybermen and Dalek invasion, and you’ve hurt your ankle. I just want to help.”

The lift arrived at the correct floor and Jack wrapped his arm around Ianto, guiding him out of the confined space. 

“Yeah, ‘cause you’ve been such a big help in the past,” Ianto muttered, slowly leading Jack towards the door to apartment ‘D’.

He tried to take the keys off Ianto, and sighed when the younger man pulled them away. “Please, Ianto. I know you don’t like showing weakness, but can’t you just swallow your pride for a few moments?”

Ianto heaved a sigh and allowed himself to be ushered into the apartment and lowered to the couch with little protest. Jack moved away from him and headed into the bathroom, shrugging off his greatcoat as he went, throwing it on the back of a nearby chair.

“Like the coat, by the way,” Ianto commented wearily, leaning his head back and closing his eyes as Jack returned from the bathroom.

“Thanks,” Jack replied, sitting on the coffee table in front of Ianto, setting the first aid down.

The younger man winced and tried to pull away when Jack eased his shoe and sock off his injured foot. “World War Three?” he ventured a guess.

“Two,” Jack corrected, flipping the lid of the box open and pulling out a roll of bandages. 

“The Military look always did suit you,” Ianto murmured, throwing a small smile in Jack’s direction. 

The Captain smiled back, before focusing on his task. They sat in silence as Jack bandaged Ianto's twisted ankle, the sounds in the room being Ianto's pained gasps when Jack’s fingers pressed a little too hard on his ankle. 

As he slowly wrapped the bandage around Ianto's ankle, Jack took the opportunity to take in his surroundings.

The apartment was decorated in pretty much the same manner Ianto’s room had been back at the Agency: Minimalist and simple. Boxes sat in one corner of the room, a clear sign that Ianto hadn’t taken the time to fully unpack. Or he was planning on leaving soon. 

Jack was actually surprised at how much the thought of Ianto leaving for good made his chest constrict painfully.

“I’m surprised you haven’t gone home,” Jack whispered, voicing his thoughts as he slid a cushion underneath Ianto's foot before he moved to sit on the couch next to him. 

Ianto let out a hollow laugh and shook his head. “I don’t have a home anymore,” he muttered, reaching out for the remote control that was on the chair arm.

Jack’s forehead creased in confusion and he turned in his seat to look at Ianto. “What do you mean?”

“N’mind,” Ianto replied sullenly, not looking at Jack as he flicked through the television channels.

“Damn it, Ianto!” Jack cried. “Stop being a child and talk to me.”

Something inside Ianto snapped and he pressed the power button, sending the television into standby mode. He threw the remote control on to the table so hard that the battery cover flew off and one of the two batteries slid across the shiny surface and fell to the floor.

“Don’t you dare think you can come here after six months and order me around,” he snarled, his eyes flashing dangerously.

Jack’s own annoyed gaze met Ianto's and they both stared at each other for a long moment, neither of them willing to look away and admit defeat. 

“The Time Agency has been destroyed,” Ianto whispered, not averting his eyes.

Jack blinked in surprise, breaking their connection as he took in what Ianto had just said. “What? When?”

Ianto shifted, trying to get comfortable. “A year ago. The governing bodies got wind of what was happening below the surface and sent their agents to investigate. The bosses were granted clemency if they turned over every piece of information they had on their agents.”

“What happened to you?” Jack asked quietly, looking down at his hands as he listened.

“Orders of execution were issued for all the assassins and the Agents who trained them,” Ianto revealed. “That’s why I came to find you, Will. You can’t go home. You can’t go back to the Agency. If they find out where you are…”

“You said all my files had been deleted,” Jack pointed out.

“Just because I couldn’t access them doesn’t mean they don’t still exist,” Ianto pointed out. “You’ll be killed instantly, Will.”

Jack nodded his head solemnly, leaning back and resting his arm against the back of the couch. “I’m in no danger of that then.” At Ianto's questioning look, Jack indicated to his Vortex Manipulator. “It’s been broke for… years. I couldn’t go home, even if I wanted to.”

They lapsed into silence again, both of them watching the other’s reflection in the blank television screen. Slowly Jack’s arm slid from the back of the chair and draped itself around Ianto's shoulders, his fingers brushing lightly against the material of Ianto's shirt.

“Will…” Ianto began, turning his head to look at Jack.

He didn’t manage to get the rest of his words out as Jack leant forward pressing their lips together tentatively. Ianto groaned and buried his fingers in Jack’s soft hair. He ran his tongue across the other man’s lower lip before prying Jack’s lips open.

Jack moaned when he felt Ianto slide his tongue inside and run the tip over the roof of his mouth. Being that close to Ianto felt so good, and Jack couldn’t believe he had survived being so far away for the past six months.

When they pulled away, both men were flushed and panting for breath. Their eyes met and together they grinned, clearly they were both thinking the same. 

Ianto covered Jack’s mouth again, kissing him hotly and moving with the intention of straddling Jack.

“Fuck!” he cried, abruptly pulling away and leaning forward, wrapping his hands around his calf as he tried to breathe through the pain. “Forgot about that,” he groaned, falling back on the couch as the feeling began to subside.

Jack chuckled and ran his fingers through Ianto's dark hair. “There’ll be time later,” he assured him.

A second later Jack jumped to his feet, holding his hand out to Ianto. “Come on,” he instructed, carefully pulling the other Time Agent into an upright position. “I think saying you’ve had a bad day would be an understatement, don’t ya’ think?”

Ianto rolled his eyes and gave Jack a look that immediately told the other man he wasn’t funny.

“Right…” Jack wrapped one of Ianto's arms around his neck and looped his own arm around the younger man’s waist. “Bed.”

“If you want sex,” Ianto began, gritting his teeth against the pain, “I think I’ve made it clear that you’re going to have to wait.”

The bedroom was decorated in much the same way as the rest of the apartment. Ianto hadn’t even bothered to place personal items in this room. The only indication that someone slept in the room was the slightly crumpled sheets and an open trinket box, displaying a rather large collection of cufflinks – far more than Jack could ever remember Ianto owning.

“I need to get a shower,” Ianto murmured half-heartedly as he allowed Jack to undress him and urge him towards the bed.

Jack quickly rid himself of his own clothing and slid into the bed next to Ianto, being careful not to hurt the other man’s foot even more. “You can get one in the morning,” he replied, brushing Ianto's hair away from his forehead. 

“Just get some sleep,” he whispered. “You need…”

There was no need for him to finish the sentence however. The instant Ianto's head had touched the soft pillows, his eyes had fallen closed and exhaustion had taken over.

For a long moment, Jack watched Ianto sleep; taking in the steady rise and fall of his chest with each breath, and savouring the rhythmic beating of the heart under his hand.

“You were right,” he said softly, his voice so low he could barely hear it. “Today was too close; far too close. I want you in Cardiff with me, Ianto.”

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a flashforward (technically).

Chapter 11

_December 5080_

_The wind was howling wildly, whistling violently as it made its way through the sector. Rain was falling from the clouds at an alarming rate._

_That, coupled with the ferocity of the wind, made travelling outside almost impossible and bordering on suicidal._

_Not many officers would brave the elements to continue their search, so Ianto knew he was safe for the moment. That sense of security wouldn’t last long, though. He knew they would restart their search the second the storm ceased._

_Ianto sat in the centre of a large hall. It had once been a meeting hall of the abandoned monastery, which had been converted into a hiding place for those seeking refuge from the world outside._

_Everyone around him had a reason to hide from the warriors patrolling the streets in the main sector. Some were classed as rebels amongst the governing bodies; people who had dared to speak out against the rules and regulations imposed amongst the people._

_Others were simply outcasts in their lives. They just didn’t fit in for a host of reasons that Ianto really didn’t care about._

_But none of them were there for the same reason he was. If caught, the others would merely be imprisoned for any crimes for several years, before being released back into the world once again._

_Ianto wasn’t certain what fate would await him should he be caught by the soldiers; but, whatever it was, he knew it wouldn’t be pleasant._

_He wiggled his toes, trying to get feeling back into them before slipping on his socks, which had been drying for the past hour and half. He had been making his way between sectors when the storm hit. It had been a struggle to get to the shelter and when he arrived Ianto's clothes had been soaked through completely._

_A loud knock sounded on the door and everyone started, listening intently as whoever it was knocked once… twice… three times before pausing for seconds and knocking twice more._

_The second the door was opened, a large gust of wind blew through the building as a soaking figure slipped through and helped the guard close the door._

_“Got it!” the newcomer announced, shrugging out of his wet coat as he climbed up onto the platform at the front and pulling down a large projection screen._

_Ianto cupped his hands around the warm cup of coffee he had been given and leant forward, watching intently. After the first sip, he knew he had no plans on drinking the beverage; it tasted of little more than coffee flavoured dishwater. But the warmth from the cup in his cold hands was more than welcome._

_He watched the man slide the news chip into the projector and press the power button. The already dim overhead lights flickered as power was redirected from the generator._

_A few tense moments passed and no one knew for sure if the chip would work, but eventually the screen flickered to life; displaying footage of a news anchor, framed by scrolling text both above and below her._

_“We’ve just received word from reliable sources that at least six Time Agents have been sentenced to death. It’s unclear when their punishments will be enforced…”_

_“It is rumoured that two officers were murdered yesterday while they were on patrol. Details are sketchy, although there are talks of the killer being a rogue Time Agent trying to escape capture…”_

_“As reported earlier this week, the Time Agency has been exposed as a base for a secret organisation known only as ‘Floor –2’. It’s unclear what this organisation’s purpose is, although our leader warned people that the Time Agents are dangerous and capable of killing with no second thoughts. Citizens are advised to be on their guard at all costs and report any suspicious persons…”_

_Ianto tuned the news chip out, turning his attention to the creature sitting beside him. He couldn’t for the life in him remember what species it was, not even the blue tinged skin made it easier. Although, he reasoned, it must be from somewhere local since the Time Agent could understand his words clearly._

_“More trouble that it’s worth, that Time Agency. That’s what I’ve always said, isn’t it Mavis?”_

_Besides the first creature sat a second, holding a small bundle in its arms, which Ianto could only presume, was a baby. “Oh, yes,” the smaller creature replied dutifully. “You were saying just last week.”_

_“These Time Agents are a clear example of how bad things have got in the government…”_

_Not being able to stand anymore, Ianto got to his feet and stretched widely. As he moved, the blanket he had around his shoulders slid off and fell to the ground, landing in a heap at his feet. The second the thin blanket touched the ground there was a slight fight around him as people fought for possession of the newly freed material._

_Before anyone could manage to acquire the blanket for themselves, Ianto picked it up and crossed the room._

_“Here,” he whispered, crouching down next to a young girl who was shivering violently against the cold. “Don’t let go of this,” he added, draping the blanket around her thin shoulders._

_Her dark eyes widened with surprise and she whispered that she would keep hold of it, thanking him for his kindness._

_As he made his way to the door, Ianto was a little surprised at his own actions. A few weeks ago, he would have left the blanket for anyone to grab. Recent events must have made him more susceptible to the feelings of compassion he had worked so hard to repress._

_The door was bolted shut and there was a thin sheet of wood covering the small windowpane. Outside, he could hear the wind beginning to die away and he knew it was time for him to make his move. He had to be in the next sector before the soldiers arrived in this one._

_Next to the door sat a young man with brown hair, wearing dark trousers and a red waist-length coat. In his hands, he was holding a rather large gun; clearly he had been placed on guard duty for the moment._

_“You don’t want to be heading out there,” the man commented, spotting Ianto trying to see through a small gap in the wood._

_“Really?” Ianto replied distractedly, instinctively ducking to the side when he spotted someone come into his eye line._

_The building went silent once more until the person on the other side completed the required security code (i.e. the knock) and was allowed access to the safe house._

_Even though the storm was dying away, it still took both Ianto and the guard to close the door behind the young father and his small child._

_It was only after the door was closed and securely bolted that Ianto realised his Vortex Manipulator had fallen from where it had been secured in his pocket. By the time he realised, the guard had picked the wristband up and was studying it intently._

_Not wanting to draw attention to himself by having to kill the guard, Ianto held his hand out, trying to keep his voice and temper as patient and calm as possible._

_“Thanks.”_

_The guard studied him for a long moment before handing the Manipulator over. “Pretty sophisticated piece of equipment you got there.”_

_“Yeah, well…” Ianto shrugged his shoulders, fastening the band tightly around his wrist. He knew it was a clear sign of his Time Agent status, but the familiar warmth against his skin made him feel safe._

_“You know…” the guard continued speaking, “I heard a rumour that people are looking for Time Agents and there’s a hefty reward for turning one in.”_

_Ianto instinctively reached for the gun he had concealed in the small of his back._

_Before his fingers could curl around the weapon, the guard added, “Let’s hope no one finds us then…”_

_The young man pulled his sleeve up - revealing a Vortex Manipulator - before pushing the material back down just as quickly._

_Ianto felt a tiny rush of narcissistic pleasure when he noticed that the other man’s wristband was thinner than his own; clearly it was a starter model. The kind given to young trainees when they first started out. Will’s had been wider than his, having been a Time Agent for a lot longer than Ianto._

_The thought of Will spurred Ianto into action and made him remember one of the reasons why he was planning on leaving this century._

_“What are you doing here?” he demanded, making sure to keep his voice too low for others to hear._

_The other Time Agent rolled his eyes. “You’re kidding, right?” he scoffed. “The same thing you’re doing here, no doubt. It’s Hell out there,” he nodded toward the door._

_“I have to get out,” Ianto muttered, sliding the lock back and resting his hand on the door handle. Feeling another moment of compassion for the total stranger, Ianto turned to him and asked his name._

_“Mike,” the other man replied. He didn’t provide his surname, nor did Ianto request it, he simply introduced himself._

_“You might want to think about leaving as well,” Ianto advised him. “The storm’s beginning to shift and the soldiers will be here soon.”_

_“I would,” Mike replied. “But finding an unsecured network to hook this,” he tapped his Manipulator with his index finger, “to, isn’t easy.”_

_“Nothing worth doing is ever easy,” Ianto replied, remembering when Will had told him that very phrase after his first tough training exercise when Ianto had been ready to give up._

_The door opened and a cold wind immediately blew in, but Ianto knew he had no choice but to leave now._

_“Be careful out there, Eye Candy. Don’t want to get yourself caught!” was the last thing Ianto heard before the door closed behind him and carefully he made his way through the silent streets._

_~_

_Two, maybe three, hours later, Ianto paused for a moment on the hillside. Leaning forward, resting his hands on the thighs as he tried to catch his breath, he surveyed the sectors in the valley below him._

_From this distance he could just about make out the tiny building he had spent the night in and, if he squinted, he could see figures making their way through the darkness towards the building._

_Suddenly, the night sky was lit up by flames as the charges soldiers had placed around the building exploded, bringing the structure to the ground, crushing those innocent people still inside._

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Ianto let out a quiet cry and jerked upright when he heard the sound of an explosion and felt the flames from the burning building.

It was only when he felt a hand on his arm that he realised where he was and relaxed back into his seat.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Jack was saying softly, running his hand up Ianto's arm soothingly. “It’s okay, you’re okay.”

He let out a hiss of breath and closed his eyes tightly. “What was that? That explosion.”

Jack shook his head, moving his hand back to the steering wheel and turning his attention back to the road. “It was only a car exhaust backfiring,” he assured him, turning the stereo on quietly now that Ianto was awake and wouldn’t be disturbed.

Sleepily Ianto ran a hand over his face and glanced at the clock on the centre console. It was approaching six in the evening and he was beginning to feel hungry. “How long before we get there?” he questioned, feeling as though he were a small child on a long journey.

“About half an hour,” Jack replied distractedly, concentrating as they turned off the main road. “What were you dreaming off?” he asked quietly.

Ianto grimaced and shook his head. “Not dreams, memories,” he murmured. 

They fell silent for a moment, Jack focusing on the road in front of them. Ianto turned to look outside, not focusing on what he was seeing. Instead, he was trying to focus on not remembering what he had seen while he slept.

“Don’t you want to tell your team about me before they actually meet me?” he eventually asked, not turning to look at Jack. “You know, get them used to the idea of a new team mate first?”

Jack shook his head firmly. “You working with us is not open for discussion by them,” he replied. “They’ll have to get used to the idea eventually, so they might as well meet you straight away.”

“Besides, Tosh won’t say anything against you. Suzie’ll be suspicious at first but she’ll come around pretty quickly. Owen’s the only one you might have trouble with.”

~

Jack leant back in his chair and surveyed his team. Tosh hadn’t looked surprised when the former Time Agent announced the newest addition to their team. Jack suspected that she had figured out that a fight with Ianto had been the cause of his violent mood swings recently.

Suzie had demanded to know what Jack had been thinking, what had he been drinking and had he been smoking any illegal substances (both human and alien, alike). When Jack had assured he was of sound mind and body, she had then questioned whether they could trust Ianto. He had worked for Torchwood London and everyone in the boardroom knew they couldn’t be trusted; even before the whole fiasco with the Cybermen and Daleks, they knew Yvonne and her staff had skewed ethics. 

As predicted, Owen hadn’t taken it well. He had remained silent for the first few moments until Jack had finished speaking and Suzie had demanded answers to her questions. Then the doctor had let loose, wanting to know what the hell Jack was thinking.

Half an hour later, Owen was still going on about it. Ianto had long since gotten bored of listening to him and wandered down the metal stairway to the small workspace and coffee machine at the bottom. Jack had no idea what he was planning on doing, but as long as he could see where the other man was he didn’t care. The last thing Jack wanted was for Ianto to get lost in the complex underground tunnels hidden beneath them.

“You only want to hire him because you want to shag him,” Owen stated sulkily. 

Jack sighed and folded his arms across his chest. The doctor had been down this route once already and, like Ianto, Jack was getting bored. “How do you know I haven’t already?” he asked, not bothering to hide his yawn.

Owen spluttered for a second - Jack’s answer had seemingly managed to fluster the young man - before he recovered and continued his complaining. “Then you only want to keep him around so you can carry on shagging him!”

He turned to Tosh and Suzie who had been silent for most of Owen’s rant. “Don’t you remember when I suggested that blonde bird? Jack said we didn’t need another team member then. But, suddenly Mr Jones appears out of the woodwork and we need five team members.”

Tosh sighed and pushed her glasses further up her nose. “You didn’t want to hire her, Owen,” she stated wearily. “You wanted to hire her chest.”

Owen looked affronted, “No, I did not!” he retorted indignantly. 

“What was her name?” Suzie challenged, meeting Owen’s eyes with a knowing smirk.

“That’s not the point.”

Jack laughed and Suzie’s smirk intensified. “You can’t remember, can you?”

A knock on the boardroom door interrupted their arguing and they all looked up to see Ianto standing in the doorway, carrying a tray with five steaming cups sitting on top. 

“I thought you might be thirsty with all this arguing,” Ianto explained stepping into the room and placing the tray on the centre of the table.

Immediately Tosh, Suzie and Jack all grabbed a cup for themselves. Owen remained without one, watching as all three of them took their first sips. 

“How do you know he hasn’t poisoned them?” he asked, bordering on the edge of pouting when all of them let out simultaneous sighs of pleasure.

“Ianto, this coffee is gorgeous,” Tosh complimented, blowing on the hot liquid.

He inclined his head and offered her a smile. “Thank you, Tosh,” he replied politely, making her grin when he remembered her name from when Jack had introduced them earlier.

Suzie nodded in agreement. “It really is. How did you manage to get the coffee machine working again?” 

Ianto grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m pretty good at fixing things,” he replied vaguely.

Jack rolled his eyes; he knew there was no way Ianto could have fixed the coffee machine without the futuristic technology programmed into the Vortex Manipulator hidden under the sleeve of his jacket.

“You must be,” Suzie continued, having another drink. “That machine hasn’t worked properly since Owen got drunk and tried to make coffee for everyone.”

“It would have gone better if he hadn’t used kidney beans instead of coffee beans,” Jack added, finishing off his own drink and looking at the medic, whose own cup was still untouched. 

“Come on, Owen,” he pressed. “Just have one drink. We haven’t dropped down dead, so I doubt Ianto's poisoned us.”

Owen shook his head and averted his eyes, which turned out to be a bad thing to do since he spotted Tosh and Suzie looking at him eagerly.

“Fine,” he sighed, far more dramatically than necessary as he leaned forward and grabbed the cup from the tray. “But if I die, I’ll come back and haunt you all forever. Especially you, Harkness!”

Everyone watched him as he nervously took a sip of the rapidly cooling beverage. Owen didn’t say a word as he lowered the cup and licked his lips, removing any traces of the liquid that might have spilt.

Silently, he placed the cup on the table in front of him and Jack growled in annoyance when he realised that Owen’s attitude towards Ianto didn’t seem to have changed. Even though Jack had said what his team thought didn’t matter, he would have preferred to have a unanimous vote for his lover.

Then Owen said the one thing none of them thought they were going to hear, “You’re hired.”

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Ianto didn’t want to move. After spending the night tossing and turning fitfully in his sleep, he had finally managed to find a comfortable position and had eventually succeeded in drifting into a mercifully dreamless sleep.

He could feel someone’s hot breath on his skin and it took him a while to remember whom it belonged to. It had been so long since he had been with someone he could wake up to, and it was taking some getting used to. 

The fact that Jack was just as content to spend the pre-dawn hours in bed with him made things ever better for the younger Time Agent.

“You awake?” Jack’s sleepy voice broke through his sleepy musings.

He groaned and buried his head in the pillow. “No,” he replied, his voice almost completely muffled.

Jack swatted him on the shoulder and Ianto could feel the covers move and the bed shift as he got up. “I need to get to work and you said you were going to go apartment hunting today.”

Ianto rolled on his back and watched as Jack paraded naked around the bedroom. It had been a week since he had arrived in Cardiff from London and he had been staying with Jack ever since. 

The other man’s apartment wasn’t much. Actually, it looked pretty much like his own had done in London; empty and almost completely devoid of human touches. Ianto knew he had kept his like that on purpose, knowing he wouldn’t be hanging around in this century for very long. Idly he wondered what Jack’s reasons were.

“Not that there’s any point in that,” Ianto muttered to himself, wearily pushing himself upright. “Every place I’ve seen so far has been a complete dump.”

Jack paused in his task of dressing himself and turned around, his shirt was hanging open and his trousers were in a similar state. “The last place wasn’t that bad,” he reasoned.

Ianto raised an eyebrow at his lover. “Will, it was two steps away from being a construction site. Hardhats were recommended by the owner.”

The older man chuckled as he cast his mind back, remembering the stray bricks on the floor and plastic sheets covering the holes where windows should have been. “Good point,” he muttered, focusing his attention on dressing himself once more.

When he looked somewhat presentable, Jack headed to the bedroom door. Before he left the room, he paused and looked back at Ianto who was still on the bed. “You know, you don’t have to move out.”

With a frown, Ianto tossed back the covers and quickly followed Jack. “You mean, move in with you? Permanently?” he questioned.

Jack shrugged his shoulders, pulling the refrigerator open and pulling out a bottle of milk. He sniffed it cautiously, screwing up his nose when he realised it was out of date by at least a week.

“It’s not like we haven’t lived together before. It’d be like old times,” he murmured, moving to pour the vile liquid down the drain.

He let out an undignified squeak when he felt Ianto hug him tightly from behind. “Do you mean that?” Ianto whispered in his ear.

Placing the bottle in the sink, Jack turned around in Ianto's arms and nodded his head. “You know me, Ianto. I don’t offer things when I don’t mean them.”

Not saying another word, Ianto leant closer to the other man, kissing him deeply and pressing him against the counter behind him. 

“You know…” Jack panted, tearing his lips away from Ianto's and gasping for breath. “If you keep doing that, I’m never going to get to work.”

Ianto smirked and shrugged his shoulders, leaning in for another kiss. “Take it up with your boss.”

~

They were over an hour late when they let the apartment, heading across the city for the Hub. “If we’re going to be living together full time, we can’t be doing that every morning,” Jack stated, the corners of his mouth turning up in a smile.

Ianto rolled his eyes and leant back in his seat. “Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy it,” he muttered.

Jack shook his head, “It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, I just…”

Someone chose that moment to step out into the road in front of the SUV and Jack barely had time to slam on the brakes before they collided with the person. Ianto winced as the seatbelt tightened, forcing him back into his seat as the car slid to a stop a few feet away from the idiot in the road.

“Okay, this is getting ridiculous,” Jack scowled, unfastening his own seat belt and throwing the driver’s side door open.

“You know,” Ianto commented, unfastening his seat belt and getting out of the car with Jack, “this seems very familiar to me.”

In the middle of the road was a young man with spiky light brown hair, wearing a dark suit over a white shirt; he looked awfully familiar to Ianto.

“Dean?” he asked, suddenly realising who the other man was.

The newcomer whirled around from where he was watching Jack and stared at Ianto in disbelief. “Ianto?” he whispered, the surprise clearly showing on his face.

“You’re…” Ianto shook his head. “I didn’t think anyone else from our department got out. Did…?”

Dean’s face suddenly became clouded and he shifted in his spot. “She didn’t make it,” he whispered, looking down at the ground, avoiding the other man’s eyes.

Ianto was stunned into silence before he surprised both Dean and himself – not to mention Jack - by pulling the young researcher into his arms. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, truly meaning what he was saying.

Beside them Jack cleared his throat and they released each other. “Sorry to break up the moment, because you two look quite cute together…” 

Dean blushed bright red, while Ianto just rolled his eyes; he was far too used to Jack’s outrageous comments for them to bother him. All things considered, what he had just said was pretty mild for the former Time Agent.

“But what the hell do you think you’re doing throwing yourself in front of the SUV?” Jack demanded, turning back to Dean and jabbing his finger in the direction of the car to prove his point. “You could have been killed.”

It took a few moments, but Dean finally seemed to remember why he had thrown himself in front of the car. “I want…”

“You’re not working for me,” Jack interrupted, folding his arms across his chest.

Dean’s face crumpled and the Captain immediately knew he had been right about what the researcher wanted. “I… I need your help to catch this pterodactyl,” he eventually whispered.

Jack and Ianto's eyes met and both knew they were wondering the same thing. The odds of another dinosaur coming through the Rift were slim, but two of the same species of dinosaur coming through seemed highly unlikely.

With a nod of his head, Jack allowed Dean to lead them over to the warehouse where the pterodactyl had been spotted. Ianto frowned and placed a hand on his arm, “Will,” he murmured quietly. “It’s the same warehouse.”

“Yeah,” Jack replied, nodding his head and pulling out his coat. “Do not drop this,” he instructed, handing the coat to Dean. “Have you got any chocolate?”

Dean frowned, clearly not completely understanding what was going on, before nodding his head. “It’s dark,” he replied, pulling the confectionery from his pocket.

Ianto offered him a smile as Jack snatched the chocolate from him without a word. “That’s perfect,” Ianto assured Dean. “How did you find her?”

Still clearly not understanding what was going on, Dean followed the couple into the warehouse, stepping to the side and watching Jack move toward the creature. “Rift activity locator. How do you know how to deal with a pterodactyl?” he asked, looking at the pair of them with suspicion in his eyes.

Ianto grinned widely and nodded towards Jack. “We’ve been here before,” he replied. “Is it her?” he called after Jack who was inching closer to the winged dinosaur.

“You got a torch? Shine it over here.” When Ianto did as he was instructed, Jack nodded his head. “You see her leg? I tagged her a few weeks ago. It’s definitely her.”

Finally noticing the humans in her presence, the dinosaur turned to face them and let out a happy cry when she spotted Jack. 

“Myfanwy, what are you doing here?” Jack demanded, placing his hands on his hips and staring at the pterodactyl, looking for all the world like an annoyed parent.

“You named her?” Ianto asked incredulously.

“You know her?”

Ignoring them both, Jack continued focusing on Myfanwy. Slowly he unwrapped the chocolate and broke a tiny piece off, throwing it to the ground in front of him. 

“Who let you out?” he cooed when she inched closer, grabbing the piece he had thrown her, before looking up expectantly; clearly one piece was not enough for her. “I bet it was Owen, wasn’t it?” he continued, reaching out a hand and petting her head gently.

“Why would Owen let her out?” Ianto called, raising an eyebrow as he watched Jack treat the dinosaur like she was a puppy.

Jack shrugged his shoulders, breaking off another piece of chocolate and throwing it to her. “ ‘cos he’s a twat?” Jack suggested, handing over the last piece of chocolate and scrunching the wrapper up. “All gone,” he informed Myfanwy, holding his hands up to prove there really wasn’t any left.

Dean watched in confusion as Ianto pulled his mobile phone out. “Tosh?” he spoke. “Does… Myfanwy,” he rolled his eyes at the use of her name, “have a tracker on her?” There was a pause and he chuckled. “The pterodactyl. Don’t ask; Jack’s decided to name her. Can you keep an eye on her until she gets back to the Hub?”

Jack raised an eyebrow at Ianto as he cancelled the call. “Apparently, you’re the only one who thought to name her,” he informed him. “Tosh likes the name, though.” Jack laughed and nodded his head happily. “She’ll make sure she gets back to the Hub.”

Petting Myfanwy one last time, Jack firmly instructed her to head home, telling her that he expected her back within the hour ‘otherwise she’d be in big trouble’, before he returned to Ianto and Dean as Myfanwy flew out of the warehouse.

Beside him, Ianto heard Dean heave a sigh, before he handed Jack’s coat back to him. “I should go,” he said quietly, looking down at the ground. “Thanks for the help.”

Ianto looked at Jack intently. “Come on, Will,” he whispered. 

“No,” he replied firmly with a shake of his head. “With you we already have a full team.”

Ianto threw a look at Dean’s retreating back. As far as he knew, Dean was the only other survivor of the battle and he couldn’t help feeling protective of the young researcher. “Will, please,” he murmured. “Six team members will always be better than five.”

Jack’s gaze met Ianto and Jack found he couldn’t look away as Ianto pleaded with his gorgeous blue eyes. There was no way he could say no after looking directly into his lover’s eyes; he never had been able to. 

“Well…” Jack eventually sighed. “I suppose we could use a butler.”

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

“No! Absolutely not!” Jack shouted, turning on his heel and stalking down the stairs away from Suzie. 

Tosh looked up from her workstation when she heard the shouting coming from her boss. Only to roll her eyes when she saw whom he was arguing with. “How long is she going to keep this up?” she asked, turning back to her work.

Ianto didn’t even look up as he continued with his paperwork. “They’ve been at it for thirty-four minutes and twenty five seconds,” he informed her, not even needing to look at the time. He grinned when Tosh looked at him curiously. “I want to see how long it’ll be until he caves in.”

“You two do know she’s been asking him for weeks, don’t you?” Owen chimed in, leaning back in his chair and chewing his pen lid thoughtfully. “I reckon he’ll refuse her completely. Want to put a bet on it?”

His teammates looked at each other thoughtfully, both considering their options before they nodded simultaneously. 

“I think they’ll last another twenty minutes before Jack caves,” Ianto stated, pulling out his wallet and slapping a five-pound note down onto his desk.

Tosh followed suit, leaning down and pulling her own purse out of her bag. “I’ll give them an hour,” she decided.

Owen grinned and pulled out a stopwatch, timing the rest of Jack and Suzie’s argument. “Whoever guesses the right time, without going over, wins.”

Jack and Suzie had moved their argument into the Captain’s office, making it difficult for the others to fully hear what was being said. Only the occasional yelling on Jack’s part made it obvious they weren’t getting along.

Inconspicuously, Ianto rolled his chair backwards, sliding Jack’s door open a little, allowing their voices to spill out into the Hub and enabling the remainder of Torchwood Cardiff to hear properly.

“Come on, Jack!” Suzie cried and they could almost picture her placing her hands on her hips. “I know it’s alien but it could help people.”

“No!”

“It brings people back to life,” Suzie reasoned and instantly they figured out what they had been arguing about all along.

There was a bang and Ianto knew Jack had just slammed his fist down on the table. “It doesn’t work,” he said, clearly trying to keep his voice even.

“If we each try, we might be able to get it to work. Bringing people back from the dead – even if it’s only for a short while – could be a good thing. We could help them prepare for being dead for the rest of eternity.”

Silence followed Suzie’s statement, and Owen, Tosh and Ianto found themselves listening with bated breath for Jack’s response.

“Even if it’s only for a few moments, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Suddenly Jack’s door flew open and they quickly scrambled around in an attempt at making it look like they had been working instead of eavesdropping. “Ianto, can you find that resurrection glove in the archives?” he asked, a reluctant tone in his voice. “You’re the only one that knows their way around them. We’d get lost for weeks down there.”

Ianto nodded his head, indicating that he would get it as soon as he finished his report. 

“Dean!” Jack pressed his blue-tooth earpiece so he could communicate with the young man in the tourist office. “Can you open up one of the drawers in the morgue?”

“Which one?” the young man’s voice filtered through the earpiece. 

Jack bit his lip in thought; there were plenty of people in the morgue drawers he never wanted to speak again. “008,” he replied. He had no idea who was in that particular drawer, but he knew for certain that it wasn’t anyone he had known personally, so there was no danger of them revealing his secrets to his employees.

“Owen, grab some equipment and take it down to the morgue; it’s easier than moving the body up here.”

Not allowing anyone room to argue, Jack stormed back into his office and slammed the door shut with a loud bang.

“How long?” Owen immediately demanded once the door was closed.

“Fifty one minutes and twelve seconds,” Ianto responded, clicking the button on the top of the stopwatch with a grin. “I believe this is mine,” he added, gathering the money and sliding it into his wallet. “I’ll buy you a pint later,” he assured Owen, patting him on the arm as he made his way down into the archives.

~

Jack closed his eyes wearily and leant back against the freezer drawers behind him. Only two of those drawers were empty: 006 and 007. He vaguely wondered how many people had lost their lives in the line of duty for Torchwood. Too many of them were hidden away in the levels below the main Hub; all of their family’s either retconned or believing their loved one passed away in some kind of tragic accident.

His eyes flickered down to a nearby drawer and he frowned deeply. For as long as he could remember, there had been someone occupying drawer 003. There appeared to be no lock on it; yet, it was sealed so tightly there was no way anyone could open it, no matter how hard they tried. And Jack had tried. He had looked into the records and the only reference he could find to drawer 003 was a tiny entry in the logbook: stating the occupier as ‘Doe, John’.

Every so often, Jack would try the handle, only to find it as solid as it had been for as long as he could remember. One day it would open, he knew it, and he would finally find out who was stashed in there and why.

His blue eyes flickered open when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He smiled gratefully when he saw Ianto making his way closer, carrying the resurrection glove.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ianto asked, placing the glove in Jack’s hands and moving to stand next to Owen. The medic was busy setting up the equipment to monitor any potential vitals ‘Jones, Glenn’ may have. 

Tosh was beside Jack, while Suzie leant on the drawers next to Glenn’s. Dean had already disappeared back to the tourist office, claiming to have a lot to do. Although, Jack suspected that he didn’t want to see someone come back from the dead. Not that he could blame the young man; he didn’t want to do this either.

Jack shook his head, unfastening his watch and handing it to Ianto who slid it into his pocket. “I’m positive this isn’t a good idea but…”

“What does it feel like?” Suzie interrupted their conversation. 

“Cold…” Jack replied. “Like it’s made of metal. What else is it supposed to feel like?” He looked at Owen who was staring intently at the portable monitor he had brought with him. “You ready?”

Owen nodded his head and Jack placed his hand at the back of Glenn’s head. He had no idea how it was supposed to work; he was just guessing that the glove had to be near the deceased’s brain to work properly. 

At first he felt cold, nothing but relentless cold, before there was a flash of something, barely registering in Jack’s mind. It looked like a memory but it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. Suddenly his chest constricted and it felt hard to breathe.

“Jack!” Owen shouted, grabbing the Captain’s shoulders and pulling him away from the corpse.

“Can’t… breathe,” he gasped, tearing the glove off and taking deep shuddering breaths. “It doesn’t work,” he stated, letting his head hang forward as his breathing returned to normal. 

“Let me try,” Ianto instructed, unfastening his Vortex Manipulator and placing it next to Owen’s monitor and taking the glove from Jack.

Jack shook his head violently. “Did you not hear me?” he demanded. “I could barely breathe. That thing’s dangerous, Ianto.”

Ianto stood up to his full height, looking Jack directly in the eyes. He didn’t want to get into an argument with the other man in front of the others, but he hated being told what to do and Jack knew that. 

“I’m going to try it,” he said, his voice dropping a little, giving Jack an indication of how angry he could become if he wanted to.

Knowing he was fighting a losing battle, Jack gave a tense nod and took a step back from the corpse, allowing Ianto space to move behind Glenn’s head.

Ianto looked at Owen questioningly, waiting for the all-clear nod from the medic, before he allowed his gloved fingers to make contact with the back of the corpse’s head.

Everything was black, like he was inside Glenn’s dead head. Ianto spotted a flash of light and he quickly made his way over, spotting a young man crouching on the ground with his hands clasped behind his head.

When the man opened his mouth to speak, Ianto found his chest tightening and he, like Jack, found he couldn’t breathe. He took a staggering step backwards, colliding with Jack’s chest as he took in deep shuddering breaths.

“What did it feel like?” Jack whispered, holding onto Ianto as he regained his breath.

Ianto's chest heaved with the effort and he struggled to put the effects the glove had into words. “Like… Like there was something crushing my lungs.” He looked up into Jack’s blue eyes, “Was that what you felt?”

Jack nodded his head, releasing Ianto when he was sure the other man wouldn’t fall over. “That’s it,” he decided. “We’re not doing this anyone, it’s too dangerous. We don’t know…”

He trailed off when Suzie snatched the glove from Ianto and slid it on her own hand. “What the Hell do you think you’re doing?” Jack demanded, moving closer to her ready to snatch the glove back.

“It’s warm,” Suzie whispered, looking at the glove in awe, stopping Jack in his tracks. “It’s not cold at all.”

Tosh looked at Ianto questioningly. “Could that be from you wearing it?”

“I doubt it,” Ianto responded, watching Suzie closely in case of any discomfort. “It was cold when I had it on.”

Suzie stepped closer to Glenn, placing her hand behind his head and closing her eyes.

The young man on his knees opened his mouth to speak, and although it was in Welsh, she had the sense that he was begging for his life. Another man entered the image, pressing a gun to the man’s forehead.

A loud gunshot tore through her mind and Suzie staggered backwards, finding herself in the arms of both Jack and Ianto who were still standing behind her. 

“Are you okay?” Jack questioned, running his hand up and down her back. Suzie nodded her head, grinning up at her boss when her eyes refocused on the world around her. “No shortness of breath?”

“Nope,” Suzie smirked, slipping the glove off and placing it reverently on the morgue drawer next to Glenn’s head. “Looks like all it needed was a woman’s touch.”

 

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The constant rain was starting to get ridiculous. The weather forecaster had informed the nation that it would be raining for most of the day and evening, but would have dried off by that night and the rest of the week would be warm and clammy. That had been four days ago and the rain still wasn’t showing any sign of letting up.

Ianto quickly stepped inside the tourist office and closed the door firmly, making sure it was shut properly, before he began peeling the collar of his coat away from his neck. 

He had tried convincing Jack to let him use the teleport on his Vortex Manipulator, but the other man had informed him that it would set off all kinds of intruder alarms if he teleported anywhere within a hundred feet of the Hub; and, by the time they had all been turned off, everyone would have a headache.

So he had been forced to drive to work every morning, parking in the Cardiff Waterside car park next to the Millennium Centre, and walk to either the lift or tourist office. 

Since it was raining so much, using the lift was out of the question, as it would result in water cascading down into the Hub from the Plass above.

Ianto reached behind the counter and pressed the button that would allow him access to the secret passageways and lift, which would then take him down into the Hub. 

Slowly the brick wall slid closed behind him and he was on his way down to work.

As the entrance to Torchwood closed, Dean pushed the beaded curtain aside and stepped out into the tourist office. He didn’t blame Ianto for not noticing he was there - he had been in the back after all. Out of the team, his former boss was the only one who seemed to know his name. None of the others had made any effort to get to know him.

Tosh only smiled when he handed her drinks; Suzie ignored him completely; Owen called him ‘tea-boy’, and Jack only paused to flirt and throw lewd comments his way.

Dean let out a sigh and moved in to the backroom, grabbing the mop to clean the mess made by the water Ianto had trailed through the small tourist office.

~

The team were ready to go home for the evening when the call came in. Well, there had been a call to the police that Tosh had listened in on, calling in a murder of an unidentified male.

“Suzie, grab the glove, we’re going to test out your theory,” Jack instructed, grabbing his great coat and the keys to the SUV. 

“Which theory would that be?” Suzie questioned, fastening up her own overcoat, ready to face the downpour outside.

Jack was already halfway through the large cog door, when he replied, “That the glove works better on fresh corpses.”

Dean ducked his head out from behind the beaded curtain when he heard the door open. As usual, most of the team ignored him; except Ianto. The other man offered him a smile and informed Dean that they were heading to a scene.

“Go home,” Ianto told him. “You look like you could do with some rest.”

He smiled tightly, straightening his tie and smoothing his hair. “I’ve just got a few more things to deal with here, then I’m leaving,” he assured Ianto.

Ianto nodded in satisfaction, following the team out of the door and onto the jetty.

Unbeknownst to the rest of Torchwood Cardiff, the second the door closed behind them, Dean locked it and flipped the sign to ‘closed’. There would be no tourists due to the late hour. Not to mention, the weather wasn’t best for sightseeing.

Loosening his tie, Dean pressed the button and watched as the door opened, revealing the secret passageway. He would have the whole night to himself without the knowledge of the team’s presence in the Hub clouding his thoughts.

~

For a change, Jack let Ianto drive them to the crime scene, following Tosh’s excellent directions. The rest of the team had seemed a bit surprised when Jack had told Ianto to drive, but Ianto knew the other Time Agent hated driving in the rain. He had always harboured a fear of losing control of the car, sending them all to untimely ends in a twist of metal and fire.

Owen had his earpiece in as he listened to the chatter over the police scanners. Tosh was busy directing Ianto through the streets of Cardiff to the crime scene, and Suzie couldn’t take her eyes of the glove in the box on her lap.

“Owen,” Jack said, snapping them all away from their tasks. “What are the police saying?”

The medic was silent for a moment as he continued listening before he spoke, “Caucasian male; single stab wound; initial cause of death appears to be exsanguination. The weather’s not making things any easier for them. Oh, and some red headed bird in admin has a crush on one of the cops, apparently.”

Jack was on his mobile phone almost before Owen finished speaking. “Inspector Puttick, Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood. You’re sounding very fine this evening.” There a pause and Jack pouted, “Are you saying you don’t enjoy my light, flirtatious manner?”

“Yes, we’re on our way and would appreciate it you could pull your boys and girls away from the body and let the professionals do their jobs. Thanks, I…”

He frowned and looked at the phone in his hand, “Oh… he hung up,” Jack shrugged, sliding the phone into his pocket and pulling his coat tighter around his body as Ianto pulled the SUV up to the crime scene.

Because of the police cordons he couldn’t get as close to the body as he would have preferred, which Owen complained about loudly until Jack turned around and snapped at him to shut up. There were cops around and Torchwood had to project an air of unfeeling coolness, even if they didn’t feel very cool walking through the pouring down rain in the middle of this night.

“Looks like you’ve got an admirer,” Ianto commented, cocking his head toward the single policewoman behind them. 

Unlike her fellow officers, she hadn’t moved behind the cordon. She was still standing by the squad car, a Styrofoam cup in her hands, as she watched the newcomers take over her crime scene.

Jack’s gaze didn’t waver from the dead body in front of him, although he did smirk to himself at Ianto's comment. “She’s just checking out my ass,” he replied, finally tearing his eyes away and meeting Ianto's own with a look of amusement.

Ianto merely shook his head, a bemused smile spreading across his face and he made a noise that could possibly pass off as an agreement. “I wish this rain would hurry up and die down already,” he muttered, tipping his head back and allowing the water to rush over his face.

The Captain followed Ianto's example, only he opened his mouth slightly so some water trickled past his lips. “There’s something in the water,” he commented, licking his lips as he tried to determine what it was. 

Ianto's eyes flicked over to the policewoman, only to discover she wasn’t there anymore. “Your fan’s gone,” he informed Jack. 

“Probably gone up there,” Owen pointed above their heads to the multi-storey car park, “to get a better view.”

Jack was ignoring both of them as he focused on the rainwater. “It tastes like…” He nodded his head, “Yeah, it’s definitely Oestrogen. You take the pill, flush it away and it enters the water cycle. Goes all the way up into the sky and then falls all the way back down onto me. Contraceptives in the rain: love this planet,” he added, looking at Ianto with what could only be described as a cheeky-grin. 

“Still, at least I won’t get pregnant…” he added. “Never doing that again.”

Owen rolled his eyes at his Captain’s apparent joke, but Ianto saw something flash in Jack’s blue eyes: pain and loss shining bright in those brilliant orbs. When Jack noticed Ianto looking at him with a sympathetic look, he plastered his usual smile on his face and turned back to the rest of the team.

“How’s it going?”

Suzie had removed the glove from its container and had already slipped it onto her hand. She was looking at it with the same look of reverence she had done previously, and Ianto felt the now-familiar worry inside him; she seemed to enjoy using the glove a little too much for Ianto’s liking.

She gasped when she felt warmth flood through her body, heading directly from the glove through to her brain. “It’s ready,” she whispered.

The rest of the team practically snapped to attention as they positioned themselves. Jack and Ianto standing by the corpse’s feet, Tosh and Owen standing on either side of the body. Suzie moved behind the young man’s head, giving herself the best angle to work from.

Closing her eyes, Suzie pressed glove against the man’s head, watching as visions of his last moments passed before her eyes. Her surroundings became distant and unfocused; the only thing she could feel was the dead man and the glove.

Surprisingly, the second Suzie began to use the glove, the rain around them stopped; it was almost as though someone had opened up a massive umbrella. Ianto tossed a look over his shoulder and noted that it was still raining where the police officers were standing.

The corpse jerked back to life, making Tosh jump a little with surprise. When he began looking around wildly, she tried to reassure him soothingly but when he asked what happened, they had no choice but to tell him the truth. 

“Listen to me,” Tosh whispered, placing her hand on the young man’s arm. “I’m sorry to have to tell you like this, but we haven’t got long. You’re… well, you’re dead,” she stated bluntly, seemingly unable to find a better way of getting her point across.

He blinked in confusion and looked at the Japanese woman as though she had lost her mind. “I’m not dead. I can see you. I’m still talking. How can I be dead?”

Ignoring his questions, Tosh persisted with her own line of questioning, “You’ve got to concentrate. Who did this to you? Who attacked you? What was the last thing you saw?”

“I didn’t see anything. I was walking home and someone came up behind me,” the man sobbed. 

Tosh moved back, startled at his revelation. “You mean, you didn’t see anything?” she whispered, throwing Jack a helpless look.

“Police said one stab wound to the back,” Owen chimed in helpfully.

Ianto turned to Owen and glared at the doctor. “You tell us this now?” he demanded.

Owen returned the glower with one of his own and stood upright, more than ready to begin arguing with Ianto.

Eager to avoid his employee and lover fighting at a crime scene, Jack crouched down, pulling his coat up so it didn’t get dirty from the bloodied ground beneath him. “What’s your name?” he asked the dead man softly.

“John… John Tucker. Who are you?”

Jack flashed him a smile and introduced himself. “What was it like when you died?”

Having given up on their argument, both Ianto and Owen looked at Jack in disbelief. Of all the questions to ask, he asked that? 

John cried when he realised that there had been nothing waiting for him on the other side, no pearly gates and no fiery depths of Hell.

“Well, that worked,” Owen muttered after John had expired once more. “I said it was stupid telling him he was dead.”

Tosh glared and got to her feet angrily. “Well, you try then!”

Jack heaved a deep sigh and got to his feet, straightening his great coat out. “We told the last corpse they were injured and they spent the whole time screaming the Hub down, wanting an ambulance.”

“Maybe there’s no right way of doing it?” Ianto suggested, scowling and tugging his coat tighter around him when the rain began once more.

Jack thrust his hands into his pockets and tipped his head back, staring up at where the police officer was staring down at them. “What’d you think?” he cried up to her.

~

Yawning widely, Ianto pulled open one of the drawers beneath Owen’s desk, pulling out two chocolate bars. He called Tosh’s name, throwing her one when she looked up curiously. 

She offered him a grateful smile as she pulled the wrapper back, taking a dainty bite off one corner. It had been a long day and all she wanted was to go home, but Jack was adamant that they calibrate all the new data on the glove before any of them left.

“Oi!” Owen shouted from the autopsy bay, where he was busy stitching up a cadaver. “I saw that!”

Ignoring him, Ianto glanced at his computer screen. It had been displaying the CCTV footage for the Plass all evening and he was starting to get bored. With a sigh he pushed away from his desk and headed into Jack’s office, not bothering to knock. 

“Pretending to work?” Ianto asked, raising an eyebrow as he leant against his lover’s desk.

Jack look affronted as he leant back in his chair, looking up at Ianto. “I’ll have you know, I’m very busy.”

Ianto reached out and snatched Jack’s notepad off of the desk before he could move it out of sight. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but doodling in the margins isn’t exactly classed as work as it? ‘Cos if it is, I think Owen deserves the employee of the month award.”

A laugh escaped as Jack snatched his pad from Ianto, placing it back on the desk. “I was working, but I got… bored,” he admitted sheepishly, looking up at Ianto through his eyelashes. 

Ianto grinned and leant down, capturing Jack’s lips with his own in a soft kiss. The softness quickly gave way to passion as Jack got to his feet, pressing Ianto back against the hard wood surface of his desk.

The younger man’s hands were busy making short work of Jack’s braces and belt, when they heard a nervous cough from the doorway.

Looking up, they saw Tosh stood a few feet away, avoiding looking at that as a slight blush tinged her cheeks. “I… Sorry, to interrupt,” she almost whispered, refusing to meet their eyes. “Dean just called, that cop is on her way down; masquerading as a pizza delivery girl, by all accounts.”

In unison they nodded their heads and Tosh practically fled from the room. “Some people have no sense of timing,” Jack muttered, fastening his belt again.

Ianto nodded in agreement, helping Jack to shrug his braces back over his shoulders. “Later?” he asked quietly, smoothing the front of Jack’s crumpled shirt.

Flashing him a brilliant grin, Jack swooped down and claimed Ianto's lips in a fiery kiss. “Oh, yeah,” he smirked.

~

For what felt like the hundredth time that hour, Ianto looked up at the computer screen. It was displaying the CCTV footage for the cells, and had been since PC Cooper had made her way into the Hub.

Cooper was sitting in front of the Weevil’s cell, staring directly into the creature’s face as though she could see straight through to its extra-terrestrial soul. If they had souls, Ianto thought to himself.

He watched as she turned to face Jack and said something he couldn’t make out. Presumably she informed him that she had seen enough, as a short while later both of them reappeared in the main Hub. 

Jack pointed at each of them in turn, introducing all them with his usual flourish of hand gestures, only slightly glaring at Owen when the doctor corrected him regarding his title.

“And this is Dean Hammond,” Jack indicated to the receptionist, who inclined his head slightly as he collected empty coffee cups. “He cleans up after us and gets us everywhere on time.”

Dean shrugged his shoulders, giving off an air of nonchalance. “I try my best,” he replied modestly.

Jack smirked as he passed, heading for his office where Ianto was placing his report on Jack’s desk. “And he looks good in a suit,” he added, running his eyes appreciatively up and down Dean’s body.

Ianto rolled his eyes when he heard what Jack said. “You know…” he began, grabbing Jack’s great coat and holding it out for the other man. “There was a time you thought I looked good in a suit.”

Jack laughed and threw his coat on, zipping up the light jacket underneath, ready to face the cold world outside. “You do look good in a suit,” he assured the other Time Agent. “But, I gotta say, you look better out of it,” he added, patting him on the arse as he passed.

~

The sun was beginning to rise over the bay, when Ianto stirred and rolled over in the large double bed that sat in the centre of his and Jack’s bedroom.

In the time he had been living with his lover again, the apartment seemed to have become more of a home to Jack. When Ianto had first arrived in Cardiff, it had been obvious Jack rarely spent time at the apartment. But now, both of them tried to make sure they made it home at least once a week: although, with Torchwood’s schedule and the Rift, that wasn’t always possible. One of them would often wake up alone, while the other had headed back to the Hub to make sure everything was okay.

The scent of breakfast coming from the kitchen, told Ianto that this wasn’t one of those times. Although, he knew something must be bothering Jack if he was cooking. Jack avoided cooking at all costs; the Captain’s idea of a gourmet meal was undercooked beans on burnt toast.

Not bothering to dress fully, Ianto pulled on a pair of boxers and made his way through the apartment, trying to clear his mind of the remaining remnants of sleep.

“Will?” he yawned, glancing at the clock hanging next to the window. 

It was almost six in the morning and Ianto felt alarm bells go off in his head; Jack never rose before seven if he was okay.

“Everything okay?” Ianto asked. He didn’t wait for a response from the other man as he crossed the kitchen and pulled a cupboard open, withdrawing two cups; flicking the kettle on as he moved.

He looked at Jack out of the corner of his eye and saw him nod his head mutely; his concentration focused entirely on the pan in front of him. Ianto leant over and looked in the pan, shaking his head in amusement; as predicted, it was filled with baked beans. 

Ianto headed back to the kettle and was about to pour the water when he heard a muffled sound coming from the other man. He turned his head and saw Jack leaning forward - bracing himself against the counter - clearly trying to suppress a sob.

In a flash, Ianto was at Jack’s side, wrapping his arms around the other man, pulling him back against his chest. “Will…” he whispered, pressing his lips against Jack’s hair; it was damp and smelled like rain water, and Ianto allowed himself a moment to wonder where he had been all night. “What’s wrong?” he asked softly, running his hand up and down Jack’s back.

“Suzie…” Jack managed to murmur after a moment. “She’s dead… Killed herself.”

Ianto dragged in a breath, feeling something inside him ache in pain at Jack’s words. He hadn’t known Suzie for long, but losing her so suddenly hit him hard. Although, looking down at Jack, he knew his lover was feeling the pain more than he was. “Why?”

Jack leant his head against Ianto's shoulder, breathing in the other man’s scent. Damn fifty-first century pheromones; they were making his head swim and he was finding it hard to concentrate on anything over than Ianto.

“The glove. She was addicted to the power and feelings it gave her.” Jack closed his eyes, only to open them quickly as memories of the past night played against his lid. “Gwen remembers everything.”

Ianto frowned deeply. “That cop? How is that possible? You Retconned her, and Dean wiped the note from her computer. There’s no way she could have fought through the Retcon on her own.”

Jack half shrugged. “She was at the water tower after you’d all gone home. She saw everything.”

Still running his hand up and down Jack’s back, Ianto tried to consider their options. “What are we going to do now? I don’t think retconning her would be the best thing.”

Lifting his head from Ianto's shoulder, Jack’s blue eyes met Ianto's. “I was thinking about hiring her,” he stated. “She saw everything and we already know she believes in the existence of aliens…”

“Hard not to when she’d been sat facing one for an hour,” Ianto commented dryly.

Jack gave him an exasperated look. “We could use someone who had connections within the police force. And we’re… we’re a team member down now,” he sighed, running his fingers over the counter top.

“So, this decision is completely tactical and has nothing to do with you thinking she’s hot?” Ianto raised an eyebrow at Jack’s innocent silence. “Some things never change, he muttered affectionately, rolling his eyes at the other man.

His comment drew a laugh from Jack and he pressed his lips against Ianto's. “She may be hot, but you’re still the one I came home to. That’s still you… you’re right, after all this time, that has not changed.”

TBC


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allusions to one-sided Gwen/Jack.

Chapter 16

The day after Suzie’s death and the morning of Gwen’s first day on the job, Jack called a meeting – despite Owen’s protests about it being too early in the morning and the fact that Ianto wasn’t even there yet so the team wasn’t complete. 

Leaning back in his chair, Owen yawned widely, not bothering to even attempt to hide it. “Why are we even here, Jack?” he demanded, looking over at Tosh and realising that she looked as confused at Jack’s sudden decision to hold a meeting as Owen felt.

Jack, who was sitting at the head of the table, trying to put his thoughts in order, finally looked up from the tabletop and regarded his employees. “Okay,” he started, getting to his feet and looking at them. “You two know Suzie was my second in command,” he said. He waited until he received nods of confirmation from Tosh and Owen before continuing, “Obviously, she’s gone now, so I’m going to need-,”

Before he could finish his sentence, Owen cut him off, “I’m not doing it!” he informed the Captain louder than was strictly necessary.

Jack scoffed and rolled his eyes, glaring at the doctor. “I kinda figured that,” he retorted with a sarcastic edge to his voice.

Before they could get into a full-blown fight, Tosh leant forward, a small smile on her face. “You were thinking about asking Ianto, weren’t you?” she asked, giving their boss with a knowing look.

Jack nodded his head, smiling at the Japanese woman; he should have known she would figure him out straight away. “Would you two be okay with that? I know he hasn’t been here as long as you two, but he’s got experience like you can’t imagine. I-,”

Owen held his hand up, effectively cutting Jack off mid-sentence again. “Why isn’t Gwen here for this little team meeting?” he asked bluntly – never one to beat around the bush.

Jack started a little at Owen’s change in subject, before he got to his feet. “You’ve both been here longer than she has; I wanted your opinion about Ianto being my second first, before I did anything about it.”

Tosh smiled at him and copied his action, getting to her feet as well. “Jack,” she began, reaching out and placing a hand on his arm. “We both assumed that Ianto would be your second without Suzie here, anyway.”

~

When Ianto arrived at the Hub it was almost eight o’clock and he was already angry; which, he had long since discovered was never a good way to start the day. 

The cog door had barely opened, before he brushed past it and stormed into the Hub; his angry footsteps heavy on the metal grill covering the floor.   
Tosh was sitting at her computer, with Owen at her side and Jack standing behind her; Ianto presumed the tech was showing them something on the computer. All three of them looked up with similar startled expressions on their faces when they heard the noise Ianto was making.

“You’re late,” Jack stated, placing his hands on his hips as he studied his younger lover.

The look of pure fury on Ianto’s face was almost enough to make Jack recoil. “I won’t be long,” he muttered darkly, pulling his jacket off and throwing it over the back of his chair before he made his way down the stairs and headed to the door that led to the lower levels of the Hub.

Shaking his head, Owen snorted with laughter and looked up at Jack from where he was sitting. “What’d you do to piss him off?” he demanded, an accusatory tone in his voice.

Jack shrugged his shoulders helplessly. “Your guess is as good as mine,” he muttered. “Trust me, with Ianto it could be any number of things I’ve done – or haven’t done,” he added. He grinned down at Tosh and patted the young woman on the shoulder. “Good work, Tosh,” he praised. “Just get me those final numbers for approval as soon as you can.”

Tosh grinned and nodded her head, watching as Jack turned on his heel and headed into his office, firmly closing the door behind him.

~

Three levels below the main Hub was the Torchwood shooting range. It wasn’t sophisticated by any definition of the word; Ianto was certain it was nothing more than an abandoned underground tunnel with cardboard cut-outs. But it seemed to serve its purpose and, at that moment, Ianto didn’t care what he shot – never mind where he was doing the shooting.

Not bothering with the ear protectors, he made his way over to the armoury – cursing Jack for not taking his advice and putting a secure lock on the weapons cage. That had been one of the older man’s first pieces of advice; always keep your weapon secure – you never knew when your enemies would strike.

Reaching out, Ianto pulled down the first gun his fingers touched. It wasn’t a particularly sophisticated gun; it wasn’t even alien, unlike some of the other weapons in the armoury. It was a simple 9mm Glock, with no bells, no whistles and no fancy attachments – even someone with no weapons training could shoot it; whether they’d be able to hit anything was another story all together.

Ianto picked up a magazine and reverently slid it into the handle, listening for the click that would tell him it was secured perfectly. He allowed himself a small smile when he felt the weight of the weapon in his hands - its presence soothing his anger somewhat as he turned to the side and brought the weapon up to his eye line.

Taking a slow breath in, Ianto waited for a moment, before letting the breath out and squeezing the trigger; firing off six shots in quick succession, not missing the cardboard cut-out – which looked suspiciously like a Weevil to Ianto - with any of them.

He grabbed another gun from the armoury, slid the magazine in and returned to his previous spot. After taking a moment to compose himself, he began emptying the bullets from both guns into the target.

By the time both magazines were empty, Ianto's chest was heaving from adrenaline and he had to admit he felt a lot better than he had when he arrived at work.

“Feel better?” Jack’s voice asked from behind him, making him jump in surprise.

Ianto spun around and let out a breath of air when he saw Jack standing a few feet away, leaning against the doorframe with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “I could have shot you,” he muttered, placing the guns on the workstation next to him and moving back to the armoury.

Jack shrugged his shoulders. “I’d live,” he muttered, not moving away from the door.

Ianto scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I’m still a pretty good shot, Will; trust me, I would have killed you if the guns had been loaded.”

Jack didn’t respond and Ianto threw a look over his shoulder, frowning when he saw the Captain looking down at the ground. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked, finally turning away from the armoury and turning to face Jack.

“What?” Jack murmured, finally looking up at the other man. “Oh,” he murmured. “Nothing. You didn’t answer my question,” he stated, changing the subject. 

Ianto rolled his shoulders. “I’m getting there,” he answered. Jack raised an eyebrow and Ianto sighed heavily. “It’s that stupid neighbour of yours,” he stated through gritted teeth.

“Ah,” Jack whispered, knowing exactly who Ianto was referring to. “You mean Gladys.”

“Gladys who’s married to Bernard,” Ianto informed him. “They have a fourteen year old Grandson, who smokes like a chimney; an eleven-year-old granddaughter who wants nothing to do with her parents. Oh, and they’re planning on buying a house in the Brecons – wherever they are – in the next two years.”

Jack’s eyes widened in surprise and he let out a low chuckle. “That’s more than I know about them and I’ve been living next to them for… I don’t know how long,” he shrugged.

Ianto groaned and ran his hand over his face. “I’m telling you, I couldn’t get away from her. If I hadn’t thought you’d kill me, I would have shot her right there and then in the hallway. Seriously, there’s no need to tell someone every single minute detail about your life the instant you meet them.”

Jack laughed and shook his head. “Yeah, that sounds like Gladys; trust me, you manage to tune people out after a while.”

Ianto sighed and was about to say something when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head he saw that there was a security camera pointed at them. “Does that have sound?” he asked, pointing up at the camera. Jack shook his head, raising an eyebrow as he waited to hear what Ianto had to say.

“How can you stand this Century, Will?” he asked, turning back to the armoury and grabbing another magazine. “Everything’s so… backwards,” he muttered, sliding the magazine into one of the guns he had discarded earlier.

Jack sighed and leant his head against the doorframe, watching as Ianto moved back to where he had been standing earlier. “I don’t have a choice, remember?” he whispered. “Unless you’ve figured out how to rig your Vortex Manipulator to take you and a passenger, I’m not going anywhere.”

Ianto growled and lifted his arm, firing a bullet off at the target. “I’ll be up in a bit,” he stated, looking at Jack over his shoulder.

Jack didn’t move to leave; in fact, he took a step closer, moving across the room and not stopping until he was stood directly behind Ianto. The younger man shivered when he felt Jack’s breath on the back of his neck. “Take as long as you want,” Jack whispered, running the tips of his fingers up Ianto’s arm. “You can’t stay down here all day, though. I need to teach Gwen how to shoot later.”

Ianto scoffed and rolled his eyes. “A cop who doesn’t know how to shoot? That’s comforting,” he stated sarcastically. “Nice to know what the cops in this place are being taught.”

Jack chuckled and shook his head. “Don’t worry; I’ll have her up to your standard pretty soon.” At Ianto’s glare, he corrected himself, “Well, maybe not your standard; but she’ll be shooting like a pro in no time. I’ve been told I’m a pretty good teacher,” he whispered, pressing a kiss against the back of Ianto’s neck. 

After a moment of comfortable silence, Jack reached out and placed his hands on Ianto's hips. “You’ve changed your stance,” he stated.

Immediately, Ianto’s back stiffened. “I have not!” he replied indignantly.

Jack nodded his head. “Yes, you have. I taught you how to shoot-,”

“You didn’t teach me,” Ianto cut in before Jack had even finished his sentence, his voice dropping to little more than a whisper. “My tad taught me.”

With a soft sigh, Jack pressed his lips against Ianto's neck once more. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, tightening his hold on Ianto for a moment; he could feel the pain rolling off the other man like waves and he knew exactly what was running through the younger man’s mind. “I taught you how to shoot to kill,” Jack amended his previous statement, moving around Ianto so he was facing him. “I know what I taught you, and you dipped your right hip when you pulled the trigger,” he informed Ianto.

Jack moved so his body was pressed flush against the other Time Agent’s – chest-to-chest - preventing him from moving at all. “Try now,” he whispered in Ianto's ear.

Having already inserted the magazine, Ianto brought the gun up slowly, aiming carefully before pulling the trigger. The recoil of the weapon – and the pressure of Jack’s hands on his hips - pressed him against the other man’s body and he could clearly feel Jack’s arousal between their bodies.

Flashing Ianto a grin, Jack pressed their lips together. He kissed Ianto’s jaw, feathering the skin with soft bites and kisses. Ianto groaned and lowered his hand, allowing his arm to fall slack at his side, while his free arm came around Jack’s body to pull him closer. 

“Will…” he whispered, tipping his head back to allow Jack better access to his neck.

Shaking his head, Jack slid his left hand down Ianto's arm, bringing it back up to shoulder height once more. “You haven’t finished yet.”

~

Back in the main Hub, Gwen was sitting at her new desk as she chewed the end of her pen thoughtfully. She threw another glance at Jack’s empty office for what felt like the tenth time that hour. She hadn’t seen Jack since she had arrived almost an hour and half earlier. If she thought about it, she couldn’t remember seeing Ianto, either.

“Where are Jack and Ianto?” she eventually asked as curiosity and annoyance took over, turning in her chair to face Tosh.

“Ianto's on the gun range,” Tosh replied distractedly, not taking her eyes off the screen as she studied her figures.

Gwen frowned, wondering what Ianto was doing down there when Jack had promised to teach her how to fire a gun properly. The Captain had said that they would go down to the shooting range around ten - Rift permitting, of course. It was going on eleven, and Gwen was getting eager to try her hand at shooting. Although, with Ianto down there, she doubted that would happen soon.

The former police officer threw a look over at Owen who was pottering around the autopsy bay, singing to himself - off-key and far too loud to be allowed, Gwen noted to herself with a grimace.

Ensuring that Tosh was still engrossed in her work, Gwen turned back to her computer and began thumping away at her keyboard. It took her a moment to figure out which commands the computer needed – thankfully they were pretty basic – but she managed to bring up the CCTV footage for the gun range. 

As soon as she saw the images on the screen, she could feel a hot flush spread up her neck and across her face; she knew she was blushing. She was immediately grateful that no one was paying attention to her.

She looked back at the screen, feeling guilty for watching, but unable to take her eyes off the screen. Jack’s lips were pressed against Ianto's as he kissed him thoroughly. The other man was holding a gun loosely in his hand - although shooting the target seemed to have been long since forgotten about.

The Captain’s hand was hidden between their bodies and, although Gwen couldn’t see where it was, the fact that Ianto's head was tossed back as his body arched closer to Jack’s, made it pretty obvious what the other man was doing.

Jack pressed a line of kisses across Ianto's jaw, up to his ear. The CCTV didn’t have sound, so Gwen had no idea what he said, only that it made Ianto shudder.

Ianto raised his arm, pointing the gun at one of the cardboard cut-outs on the opposite side of the shooting range. Gwen couldn’t help notice that his hand was shaking, presumably with pleasure as he tried to focus on the task and not what Jack was doing to him – no easy task, Gwen imagined.

Jack’s free hand slid from where it had been resting on Ianto's shoulder and Gwen’s green eyes followed its path down his back, widening when Jack slid his hand below Ianto's belt and under his trousers.

She was absolutely positive she could hear Ianto moan as he squeezed the trigger, firing off a shot when he felt Jack’s hand on his arse. Without realising it, she let out a soft murmur of appreciation when she saw that Ianto had only missed the centre of the target by millimetres. Even as thoroughly distracted as he was, the young man was a terrifyingly good shot.

“Watching porn?” Owen’s voice murmured over her shoulder, almost making her jump right out of her seat. “You’ll fit in perfectly around here. But, don’t tell Jack, he prefers it when people make porn – clearly,” he added, nodding to Gwen’s screen.

Quickly she closed the CCTV footage down, cursing herself for being caught watching her boss and his – lover? – having sex. “I was just… I wasn’t…” she stammered, wishing her face wasn’t as red as she knew it was likely to be.

The medic waved her rambling explanations away with his hand. “Look, you’re not the only one who’s done it. Tosh watches at least once a week,” he stated, nodding over to the Japanese woman, receiving a fiery glare in return. “Hell, Suzie had a whole folder of recordings from the CCTV when Tosh did her final log-out,” he shrugged.

“And Owen watches them every day,” Tosh added, with a smirk.

“Hey!” the doctor cried, glaring at her. “I haven’t watched them at all. Personally, I think it’s disgusting. If they can’t keep their hands to each other…”

Gwen tuned them out, turning back to her computer. Staring blankly at her screen, which was now displaying the standard Torchwood logo as a screensaver, she let her mind drift back to the images of Jack and Ianto. Suddenly she remembered why she had been looking for Jack in the first place; he had promised to show her how to shoot. 

The anticipation of her own training session was almost unbearable for the next hour until Ianto returned and told Gwen that Jack wanted to see her in the shooting range.

TBC


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Ianto looked up from his computer and grinned widely at Dean as he placed a cup of coffee on the desk next to him. Dean had worked for Torchwood London and, while Ianto hadn’t spent much time with him, he knew it couldn’t be easy to walk into another work environment so soon after seeing the battle with the Cybermen and Daleks. 

He hoped the younger man was settling in okay; he kept meaning to make sure he spent some time with him, but every time he meant to, something kept coming up or Jack kept distracting him.

Ianto glanced over to the other side of the Hub when he heard squeals of laughter coming from Gwen and Tosh and looked up to see Jack standing under the basketball hoop with a scowl on his face. 

“Ianto!” Jack cried, turning around and seeing his lover looking at them. “They’re beating me,” he added, a pout on his face.

The second in command of Torchwood Three rolled his eyes and got to his feet, moving past Dean and heading down the stairs, crossing over to the others. “Well, we can’t have that, can we?” he asked, smirking as he took the ball off Jack and throwing into the netted hoop above them - making the shot easily.

“That’s cheating!” Owen exclaimed, pointing at Ianto from where he was standing above them on the metal walkway. “You reckoned you could take us on, on your own,” he reminded the Captain.

Jack shrugged his shoulders. “I’m the boss, I get to make the rules if I want to,” he stated. He placed his hands on Gwen’s hips, picking her up and moving her to the side, despite her protests to be put down.

In the end, not even Ianto - combined with Jack’s cheating tactics - could save them and they lost. Admittedly, it wasn’t as spectacular a loss as it would have been if Jack had been playing on his own, as he had been originally.

“Looks like the drinks are on you then, Captain,” Owen chirped happily, pressing two fingers against his temple in a salute that was mocking both Jack and his title as Captain. 

Dropping the basketball on the floor, letting it bounce away to the water at the bottom of the water tower, Jack followed them, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he grumbled all the way to the lift. 

Just before the doors closed, finally sick of Jack’s complaining, Ianto rolled his eyes, grabbed Jack and pulled him closer; firmly kissing him and effectively silencing the other man’s whining.

Dean watched with detachment as the cog door rolled closed behind the rest of the team. A few weeks ago, he would have been upset that they hadn’t asked him to join them, but right then he didn’t care. He had a visitor to prepare for and things would go smoother if no one else was around.

Carefully, he placed the tray he was holding on the desk and slid into Ianto's seat. It didn’t take him long to hack into the other man’s computer system. He could have logged in under his own user name – which Jack had given him ‘just in case’ - but he didn’t want anyone to know he had accessed the CCTV footage. 

Figuring out Ianto’s password had been difficult to figure out; it had required a combination of being in the right place at the right time and sneaking around whenever Ianto was logging onto the computer. Once he had figured out what the password was, he decided that he had got it wrong; the word wasn’t in any known language and made no sense at all. 

It had taken him trying it for himself, before he believed that the password was correct.

Yes, both Jack and Ianto had certainly underestimated the young man’s ability to hack into computer systems – they really should have known better after they’d got him to wipe Gwen’s computer a couple of days before she’d been hired permanently. After entering Ianto's access codes, Dean pulled the footage from the Plass up. The rest of the team were making their way towards the Millennium Centre, laughing and joking about something, and he felt a slight hint of jealousy for a moment, before he pushed the feeling aside.

With a smile, Dean loosened his tie, unfastened his top button and rose from the seat, leaving the footage playing on the screen. He needed to know if they coming back and how much time he had before they returned.

~

Ianto laughed and rolled his eyes as Tosh relayed Jack’s message about spooking the locals to their alien visitors.

“Some people have no sense of timing,” he stated, winking at Tosh and making her blush so hard he was positive her head was going to boil.

The instant she hit the send button, the computer screen flickered and the overhead lights dimmed, before returning to normal.

“What the hell was that?” Jack demanded, putting his hands on his hips and glaring at the nearest light as though it held the answer he wanted.

Even though Jack appeared to be talking to the lights, Dean’s voice answered him from above, where he was standing by the coffee machine. “It’s the generator; I’ve been having trouble with it all night. I could…” he seemed to hesitate, as he thought about what he should do. “I could check again?” he eventually volunteered.

Jack threw him a look of pure exasperation. “That would be useful,” he said, a sarcastic tone in his voice.

Dean nodded and hurriedly made his way down the stairs, heading down to the lower levels of the Hub. 

Jack sighed heavily and turned away, moving to head back into his office. “What?” he demanded, stopping in his tracks when he noticed Ianto glaring at him.

The younger man shook his head, remaining silent as he moved past Jack, heading into the office to retrieve something from the electronic safe hidden behind the large metal door. Ianto was one of the few people Jack trusted explicitly and, as a result, the assassin knew every single one of Torchwood’s access codes and, thanks to his knowledge of the archives, he had a fairly good grasp of what was contained within the secure safe Jack kept in his office.

Ianto opened the door and had his fingers on the keypad, ready to enter the code when the lights flickered again; a private generator powered the safe, so its electronic lock never failed when the power in the main Hub went. “What the hell’s going on?” he cried, abandoning his idea of research and heading back to the door so he could see Jack.

The other man already had his Vortex Manipulator open and was busying trying to get Dean’s attention through the blue-tooth headset that he was wearing. Ianto watched as Jack tried to contact Dean to find out the status of their energy problems three times - failing on each attempt.

“The power’s draining to a store room in the basement,” Tosh advised them, slipping her glasses on and quickly tapping away at her keyboard. “Checking the heat signatures…” The monitor displayed two dots in the lower levels of the Hub. “So, assuming one of them is Dean, who’s the other?”

Jack looked over at Ianto, words passing between them silently before they simultaneously nodded their heads. Both men were thinking the same thing; they were under attack.

~

The machine whirred spluttered and whined as the power was shut off, and Jack was finally able to use his Vortex Manipulator to control the metal structure and release Gwen. 

“What the fuck is that?” Gwen demanded, jumping to her feet and moving back against Jack, clutching his forearms tightly and taking comfort in his familiar presence behind her.

“A conversion unit,” Jack whispered, not making any attempt to move out of Gwen’s grip and glancing down at Owen’s unconscious body. He sighed to himself when he realised that Owen wasn’t walking back to the Hub any time soon. 

He looked over at Ianto, sighing again when he saw that the younger man had his gun out and was pressing it against Dean’s forehead. “Have you got him covered?” Jack asked.

Ianto nodded, his gun still trained on Dean’s shell-shocked figure in front of him. Every inch of him was telling him to follow his natural instincts, which were telling him to shoot Dean. It would be so easy for him to pull the trigger and leave Dean’s body in the lower levels of the Hub while they dealt with their intruder. 

One look into Jack’s eyes told Ianto they needed Dean alive; they needed answers if they were to know what was going on. Ianto knew that he could leave Dean alive for the moment, but he was not leaving him alive after they were done; Dean hadn’t just betrayed Torchwood; he’d betraying Ianto and his trust – especially when Ianto had gone out of his way to convince Jack to hire him in the first place.

“After you,” Ianto instructed, finally moving his gun away from Dean’s forehead and indicating with it that the younger man should lead them from the room.

Jack bent down and groaned as he picked Owen up, slinging him over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. “What the hell does he eat?” he grumbled to himself.

“More crap than you do,” Ianto muttered, rolling his eyes at Jack. 

“Is it clear?” Jack asked turning serious once more as he took a step forward, pausing in the doorway with Gwen on one side of him. 

Dean swallowed nervously, licked his lips and nodded his head, confirming that the coast was clear, which Ianto then relayed to the rest of the team, before they followed the pair out into the corridor.

Before any of them could react, a metallic figure appeared into the doorway at the opposite end of the corridor. Silently, Ianto held his left hand up and Jack stopped in his place, putting his own hand on Gwen’s arm and stopping her as well. Unanimously, they lowered their torches to avoid being spotted. 

They waited with baited breath as whatever it was glanced down at them, before continuing moving; it didn’t even react to their presence.

When the thing had gone, they all let out of breath of relief. “Why is she moving on?” Gwen asked, her voice a loud whisper as they slowly began to walk again.

“It must have recognised us,” Jack replied, glaring over at Dean. “Well, it recognised one of us, at least,” he corrected himself.

~

They made it back to the main Hub without running into the creature. Jack dumped Owen on the floor, hoping that he hadn’t put him in the water near the tower. “Move,” he snarled, grabbing hold of Dean’s shoulder and dragging him away from Ianto.

He tightened his grip on Dean and forced Dean onto his knees, pressing the barrel of his Webley against the receptionist’s forehead. “Talk,” he instructed. “Did you know that thing was down there?” he demanded.

“She’s not a thing,” Dean snapped angrily, his hands clasped behind his head as he glared up at Jack. “Her name is Lisa-,”

“Wait, Lisa?” Ianto interrupted, taking a step forward and moving around Jack. When he saw the serious look on Dean’s face, he placed a hand on Jack’s arm, making him lower the gun a little so he could look the receptionist in the eye. “You told me that she’d died,” he stated, unable to keep the hurt out of his voice no matter how hard he tried.

Dean scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I had to make you think that. How else could I have gotten her into Torchwood?” he snapped.

Ianto sighed in exasperation. “You could have told us,” he tried to reason.

Jack moved around Ianto and gripped Dean’s hair with one hand, tilting his head back so he could look into his eyes in the dim light. “What else are you keeping from us?” he snarled angrily, cocking the hammer back on the Webley.

Dean half-snorted with laughter, half-sobbed, “Like you care. I clean up your shit, no questions asked. I’m just someone to flirt with and that’s the way you like it. When was the last time you asked me anything about my life?” he demanded, flickering his accusing eyes over to Ianto, before looking back at Jack.

Looking down at the other man, Jack sighed and lowered his gun, clicking the safety back on. “Ianto, you know this Lisa person?” he asked, turning back to face the assassin.

Ianto nodded his head. “She was his girlfriend back in London,” he informed the Captain. “She worked for Torchwood. He told me she’d been killed during the battle.”

~

Lisa was on a rampage through the Hub. Jack had managed to divert her attention from the rest of the team for a short while - long enough for Owen and Gwen to sneak away from the main work area. Unfortunately, Dean and Ianto were trapped in the centre of the Hub with their boss.

“Lisa, please,” Dean begged, trying to move around Ianto and reason with the partially converted woman, despite Ianto’s instructions for him to stay where he was. “Don’t do this… This isn’t you; I know it’s not. You can fight it…”

Lisa turned her head to the side, seeming to study her boyfriend for a moment, before she reached out a metal hand. Before any of them could react, she clasped her fingers around his throat, and threw him across the width of the Hub where he landed with a bone-crunching thud.

“Hey!” Jack shouted, removing his Webley from its holster once more; he had put it away earlier as he didn’t think using a gun against Lisa would make a difference. “Coming into my house and using my things is one thing, but treating my staff like that? That I’m not going to stand for; only I get to do that.”

“You will be upgraded,” Lisa responded, her voice taking on a much more computerised tone than it had before. “You will be become like me. Human-point-two.”

“Human-point-two?” Jack repeated as he scoffed. “Funny, you look like human-point-one to me. Plus, you’ll find I’m not so easily upgraded,” Jack taunted, leering at her as they circled.

Ianto groaned and shook his head, running his hand over his face. “Will, stop pissing off the half converted Cyber-woman!” he growled in frustration.

At the sound of Ianto’s voice, Jack’s eyes flickered away from Lisa for a brief moment and the metal monster took that opportunity to grab Jack’s shoulder, sending current after current through the Captain’s body. “Then you will be deleted,” she stated, dropping Jack’s lifeless body to the floor.

Ianto watched in horror as Jack’s head rolled to the side, his eyes staring blankly across the Hub at Ianto. “No!” he cried, unable to stop himself at the sight of his dead lover.

Lisa turned at Ianto’s scream and, not even hesitating, she sent a bolt of concentrated electricity across the Hub; hitting Ianto in the centre of his chest and sending him flying - stopping his heart cold.

~

A few moments later, Jack jerked back to life with a gasp. He let out a pained groan and clutched his chest as he sat up; no matter how many times he died, he knew that he would never get used to the feeling of being thrust back into the conscious world once more.

He groaned again and ran a hand over his face; his head was throbbing painfully. If he were in any other situation, he would have curled up on the couch with a couple of painkillers, waiting for the pain to disappear. 

As it stood he had to find Ianto and… Jack was positive he felt his heart stop once more when he spotted his lover lying face down in the pool of water that pooled at the bottom of the water tower.

Throwing a quick glance around the room to ascertain that Lisa was nowhere in sight, Jack reached down and pulled Ianto up out of the water, oblivious to the pounding in his own skull as he tried to rouse Ianto. Frantically, he pressed two fingers against the other man’s throat, trying to find his pulse. Nothing. Ianto was clinically dead.

Not even thinking about what he was doing, Jack took a deep breath and pressed his lips against Ianto's. His blue eyes flickered closed as he tried to imagine some of his own surplus life force flowing from his own lips, into Ianto. He had only tried to do that once before – a long time ago - and the life he had managed to supply the other person with had only lasted twenty-three seconds; barely long enough for Jack to say goodbye and that he was sorry.

After a moment, Jack felt Ianto respond and his eyes flew open with a gasp that was similar to the one Jack knew he gave whenever he came back from the dead. Immediately, Jack pressed a finger to his lips, indicating that Ianto should be silent and not give away their newly reacquired living status.

Nodding his head to show that he understood Jack’s silent instructions, Ianto's turned his blue eyes to the rest of the Hub. “Where’s Dean?” he whispered, looking up at Jack from where he was still lying in the other man’s lap.

Jack indicated to the area behind him and brushed hair away from Ianto's forehead. “She killed him,” he replied softly, looking into his eyes with a look on sadness. “I’m sorry,” he added.

Ianto didn’t get chance to respond – or ask any more questions – when the moment was broken by the sound of Gwen screaming in the medical bay.

~

Ianto had seen how much mayhem an army of Cybermen had caused but he could have never figured out how much chaos one partially converted Cyberwoman could cause on a rampage through the Hub. 

From where they standing by the door, it looked as though almost everything was destroyed. Ianto knew that it would take them weeks to rebuild some of the computer systems and, by the look of it some structure damage was irreparable; which meant that a whole section of the Hub needed redesigning - which Ianto wasn’t looking forward to arranging.

If any of them had been prepared for something upon their re-entrance after the power came back on, none of them had imagined Annie - the pizza delivery girl from Jubilee Pizza – huddled over Dean’s lifeless body.

“Annie?” Tosh whispered in confusion as they cautiously approached the young girl, never lowering their weapons.

Together they gasped when Annie lifted her head and they saw a ring of blood just below her hairline. “Ianto, he’s dead,” she murmured, spotting the Time Agent. “Why is he dead?” she added, her face contorted in confusion.

Ianto took a step back, raising his gun once more – privately wondering when he had even lowered it in the first place. “It’s her. That’s Lisa,” he informed the team, training his weapon on Annie. “You killed him,” he answered her question, cocking the hammer back.

Without another word being uttered Torchwood Three simultaneously pulled the triggers on their weapons, finally wiping the only Cyberman to survive Canary Wharf from existence.

~

Almost three hours later, Jack stood in the conference room high above the rest of the base, watching as Owen and Tosh slowly moved Dean’s body from the walkway to the autopsy room, where he would be cleaned and his death certificate would be signed, before being sent down to cold storage for the rest of existence. Owen had wanted him moved immediately, but Jack had been adamant that securing the structure of the building took precedence – it would do none of them any good if the whole place came crashing down around them.

The door opened behind him and Jack didn’t turn. “You couldn’t have killed him,” Gwen whispered, stopping when she was standing next to Jack and following his gaze; looking down at the Hub as well. 

“Couldn’t I?” Jack asked, no emotion showing in his voice at all.

“I know you, Jack,” Gwen persisted, looking up at the Captain. “You hired him, there’s no way you could have ended his life in cold blood like that.”

Jack snorted with laughter and shook his head, rolling his eyes. “You barely know me, Gwen. How do you know what I’m capable of?” he challenged.

“Then tell me,” Gwen pressed, leaning on the glass and looking at her boss.

Jack opened his mouth to say something; although, whether he had been about to tell her to mind her own business or not, Gwen never found out because the door opened and someone cleared their throat behind them.

Together, they turned to see Ianto standing a few feet away, looking as tired and emotionally drained as the rest of them. 

Across the room Jack and Ianto's eyes met and when Ianto spoke his voice was clear and even, “We need to talk.”

TBC


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little Gwen bashing.

Chapter 18

Across the room Jack and Ianto's eyes met and when Ianto spoke his voice was clear and even, “We need to talk.”

The Captain remained silent, nodding his head and never taking his eyes off of Ianto. “Gwen,” he said softly after a moment, finally breaking eye contact with the other man and looking over at the former police office. “Please excuse us.”

She looked as though she were about to protest, but seemed to think better of it as she crossed the room to the door. As she passed Ianto she couldn’t help smirk to herself when she thought about the fight that was probably going to follow her departure. This would be the end of their fling, surely?

As soon as the door was closed behind Gwen, Ianto turned to Jack. “I saw you die,” he stated, getting straight to the point as usual.

Jack nodded his head slowly, taking in a deep breath and leaning back against the glass window behind him as he studied Ianto. “You did,” he agreed simply, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

“Then I died,” Ianto continued, sounding as though he was trying to sort out what had happened in his head. “You brought me back to life.”

Again Jack nodded, waiting for the inevitable eruption of rage and confusion he knew would come from his lover.

As predicted, Ianto didn’t let him down and barely a second later he snapped, “Are you going to explain what the fuck happened? Or am I supposed to accept it and move on?”

There was silence in the room for a moment as Jack tried to collect his thoughts and tried to figure out how best to explain what happened to Ianto. Deciding the direct approach was probably the best, he stated, “I can’t die.”

Ianto rolled his eyes and crossed the room. He sat down on the conference table, watching Jack closely and folding his arms across his chest. “I kind of worked that one out for myself, thanks,” he retorted sarcastically.

Jack glared at him and added, “I don’t know how it happened – or why – but a long time ago I was killed and somehow I woke up not too long after.”

“So, ever since you’ve been unable to die?” Ianto asked, raising an eyebrow sceptically.

The Captain shrugged his shoulders, folding his arms across his chest defensively. “It’s not that I can’t die. I do; just not permanently,” he mumbled.

Not bothering to respond to Jack’s comment, Ianto turned his eyes to the window where he could see Gwen and Owen moving around in the Hub below them. Owen was busy completing his own paperwork for a change, and while Gwen was trying to do her own, she kept throwing the couple questioning looks. Whenever she spotted Ianto was looking at her, she would glare and turn away with an angry expression on her face as she resumed her task. 

“How long have you known?”

Jack bit his lip, that had been the question he had been dreading answering for a long time. “Since 1892.”

Ianto's eyes widened in what would have been a comical expression in any other circumstance. “1892?” he shouted, getting to his feet and stalking across the room towards Jack. “So when I said it had been two years since you left the agency, it’s been over a hundred for you. Yet you didn’t think to correct me? Or see your opportunity to explain?” Jack winced and Ianto’s eyes narrowed. “Exactly how long has it been for you?” he asked, his voice dropping to little more than a whisper.

Jack sighed heavily. “It’s been over a hundred and fifty years,” he confessed, waiting for the anger to erupt from his lover once more.

As before, Ianto didn’t disappoint as he got to his feet. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” he shouted. 

Jack, feeling his own anger beginning to rise and not about to let Ianto tell him off as though he were a small child, stood upright and met Ianto's furious eyes with his own. “What was I supposed to tell you? How was I supposed to tell you? It’s not something that pops up in regular conversation, you know?” he retorted.

Ianto stalked forward, not stopping until he was nose to nose with Jack. “You could have mentioned it somewhere between me getting to Cardiff and us shagging!” he hissed.

Drawing in a breath, Ianto turned on his heel and moved away from Jack, trying to calm down before he put a bullet through Jack’s brain. He was so mad, but his mind was racing; there were so many questions he wanted to ask, but he couldn’t get past the knowledge of not being told something so important about Jack. 

“What if one of us had taken a bullet for you, not knowing you couldn’t die?” he eventually asked, turning back to face Jack with a weary expression on his face. “Me, Tosh, Owen, Gwen… Any of us could have – and probably would have – died for you. And, unlike you, we don’t come back.”

Ianto noticed Jack’s jaw tense when he said Gwen’s name and he let out a long breath. “No,” he whispered, shaking his head as he took a step back, “tell me she doesn’t know,” he instructed.

Jack remained silent and Ianto had to use all his self-restraint to not cross the room and smack him. 

“It’s not like I told her!” Jack cried, seeing the anger on Ianto’s face and running his hand through his hair in frustration. “Suzie shot me before she committed suicide; Gwen was there! What was I supposed to do?”

“You could have Retconned her again! Like you were supposed to have done already,” Ianto shouted.

“And we saw how well that one worked the first time!” Jack snapped. “Look, why are you so pissed at me? Because I didn’t tell you, or because it’s Gwen that knew the truth first? You’ve been jealous of her since she started working here.”

“Fuck you, Will!” Ianto spat, his eyes narrowed in fury. “If you want to share your secrets with Gwen, then maybe she should know everything about your past.”

“Don’t you dare,” Jack hissed, hatred filling him when he thought about what Ianto was threatening to do.

Ianto laughed and his lips pursed in a mocking pout. “Are you daring me, Jack?” he purred, a sarcastic tone to his voice as he said Jack’s assumed name. “Don’t you want the rest of this precious team of yours to know the truth about your sordid background? Maybe I should tell them all about the time you broke every bone in that guy’s body - one by one - just to find out-,”

“Shut the fuck up!” Jack screamed. He placed his hands in the centre of Ianto's chest and roughly pushed him back so he fell to the floor.

Even though Jack was more than ready to fight Ianto, the other man didn’t become angrier like Jack would have expected. Instead, he smirked and leant back on his hands, looking up at the older man. 

“They don’t know what you really are, do they? You haven’t told them that not only were you a ruthless killer, you trained me to be one too,” Ianto stated, getting to his feet. “Glad I’m not the only one you’ve been lying to after all,” he added, brushing the seat of his trousers.

“I’ve already told you, I’ve changed,” Jack murmured, looking away angrily. “I’m not that person anymore. I’m not the same person I was in the agency. What happened to me – dying and being brought back – changed me; in more ways than I thought was possible.”

Ianto remained silent, crossing the room to the door. Through the window he could see Gwen looking up at them again, although this time Owen was joining her and they were making no attempt to hide what they were doing. He knew they hadn’t heard the exact words that had been shouted – they only knew that there were raised voices; thankfully, the thick glass on the conference room walls muffled any words so they were impossible to make out.

“I’m going home,” Ianto eventually stated, opening the door and moving to leave the room. “Don’t bother following me,” he added over his shoulder, not looking back at Jack as he left the room.

TBC


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Gwen hesitated in the doorway to Jack’s office, a cup of coffee in her hands. The Captain was sat at his desk, with his head resting on his folded arms. The Welshwoman wasn’t sure if he was sleeping or resting, but she knew that he didn’t look comfortable.

Things had been tense in the Hub for the past two weeks and, while she had been slightly happier than she should have been when she found out the couple were taking a break from each other, the atmosphere between Jack and Ianto was suffocating and was starting to affect the rest of the team.

Gwen jumped in surprise when she heard Jack’s muffled voice say, “Either come in or go away,” pulling her from her thoughts rather abruptly. 

Slowly, Jack lifted his head and ran his hand over his face as he tried to wake himself up. For a moment, Gwen couldn’t help but think to herself that Jack looked adorable when he’d just woken up; almost before the thought had formed in her mind, she pushed it out of her head – thinking those kind of thoughts about her boss wasn’t doing her any good.

She took a step forward, heading further into the office. “I brought you some coffee,” she informed, holding a cup up with a smile on her face. 

Immediately Jack’s face lit up and he grinned at her, holding his hands out in a manner that resembled a small child wanting his favourite toy. “I thought I could smell coffee; thought I was dreaming, though,” he confessed with a smile, curling his fingers around the steaming cup. 

The look of happiness disappeared from his face almost instantly when he took a sip and almost spat it out over his desk when he discovered that it didn’t taste like it should. 

“That’s… Has Ianto switched me to-?” His voice trailed off and his face fell as he remembered that Ianto wasn’t likely to have made him coffee; Ianto had barely said more than two words to Jack since they had fought after Dean had been killed. Jack hadn’t even been going home – choosing to spend the nights in the quarters under his office.

Gwen put her hands in her pockets and rocked back on her heels as she studied Jack; he looked exhausted and she had to wonder if he had been sleeping at all. “Everyone else has gone home,” she informed him, her voice little more than a whisper. “Is there anything you need to do?” she asked, looking around for something that would give her a reason to stay.

Jack shook his head, running his hand over his face as he tried to stifle a yawn. “No, it’s okay,” he assured her with a smile that lacked his usual warmth. “You take off as well. Go home to Rhys, eat left over lasagne and watch Eastenders; or whatever it is people are watching this year.”

Gwen hesitated for another moment, before she decided that it was pointless. He wasn’t going to go home; no matter how many times she pestered him about it. She offered him a small smile as she left the office, closing the door softly behind her. 

Jack would still be in his office when Gwen arrived the next morning; that much she knew. Although, whether he would sleep at his desk or on the small camp bed in the room below his office, she wasn’t sure. 

~

Ianto turned over in the large bed, shifting his pillow and trying to get comfortable for the tenth time in as many minutes. The mattress probably needed flipping, it was getting a little uncomfortable, but it was the middle of the night, and since such a task really required two people, it wasn’t going to happen with Jack spending all his time at the Hub.

With a frustrated sigh, Ianto tossed the covers back and climbed out of the bed. It was clear he wasn’t going to get anymore sleep that night, so he pulled his jeans and a T-shirt on, grabbing his jacket, keys and Vortex Manipulator on the way out of the door.

When he arrived at the bay, he parked his car in its usual place in the car park opposite the Millennium Centre and slowly made his way across the road and the Plass to the lift, using his wristband to activate it.

Jack was nowhere in sight as the lift reached the bottom, and Ianto didn’t know why that was a surprise. It was the middle of the night and, while Jack didn’t sleep much, he did sleep at least a little.

He shrugged his jacket off and turned the kettle on, wanting a cup of coffee to keep himself awake, before logging on to his computer. 

Opening his email, he spotted an automated message from Tosh’s address. The technician had set her account to forward any mentions of Rift activity from her address to Jack and his second if the messages went unread for more than a couple of hours.

Clicking print without reading the messages, Ianto rose and made his way to the kitchenette where the kettle had just about boiled. Taking that first sip of coffee was as refreshing as always and he could swear he felt the jolt of caffeine dart through his body, awakening his senses.

On his way back to the computer, he grabbed the paper from the printer and scanned them as he moved. They didn’t appear to be threatening, just freak weather patterns across the district.

“It’s the middle of the night, you shouldn’t be here,” Jack’s sleepy voice commented from the open door of his office.

Ianto looked up and almost smiled when he saw Jack a few feet away. The other Time Agent was wearing his usual navy trousers, with his braces hanging down over his legs. His usual white T-shirt was stretched tightly over his broad chest and Ianto almost crossed the room to run his hands underneath it, before he remembered why he was mad at Jack and that they weren’t speaking.

He ignored Jack as he made his way back to the computer. Jack, however, didn’t seem to want to remain in silence because he followed Ianto and didn’t stop until he was standing directly behind him, so close Ianto could feel the heat radiating from his body.

“Whatcha got?” Jack yawned, placing a hand on Ianto's shoulder in what the younger man assumed was meant to be a friendly gesture.

Instead of leaning into his touch, like Jack would have expected, Ianto stood upright, shrugging the hand off before he answered, “Strange weather patterns. Not sure what to make of them.”

Jack studied the back of Ianto's head before he spoke. “Ianto, can we…?”

The loud alarm went off, cutting Jack’s sentence off as the cog door rolled back, revealing an exhausted looking Tosh. “Couldn’t sleep either?” she asked, seeing her colleagues standing in front of the workstation.

Ianto grinned at her and moved away from Jack. “I’m going to see if I can find reports of anything like this happening in the past,” he told Jack curtly before heading into the archives.

Tosh frowned and followed him with her eyes before they widened in realisation. “I did it again, didn’t I?” she whispered, her cheeks turning red.

Jack shook his head, moving to hug her comfortingly. “Unfortunately, not,” he replied. “There’s just some things we need to work through. We’ll be okay.”

~

Ianto looked around the garden at the sleeping party guests. It seemed hard to believe that a short while ago, these people had been laughing and joking with each other and celebrating a special occasion. Now they were all fast asleep with no memory of the past few hours. 

The rest of the team had left a short while ago, none of them talking to Jack and all giving him the cold shoulder. The younger Time Agent could see the effect their lack of trust and faith was having on his older lover and wanted to punch them all for being so insensitive. 

While, Ianto didn’t fully understand what he had been through in his long life, he knew losing his team was probably the last thing Jack could deal with right then. Especially so soon after losing both Estelle and Jasmine to the faeries.

Ianto had been there in Estelle’s garden when they discovered the elderly woman’s broken and waterlogged body. It had been a long time since he had seen the other man cry; Ianto knew it was difficult for Jack to let his defences down and allow people to see him at his weakness.

At that moment he had realised how stupid he was punishing Jack for not telling him he couldn’t die. Sure, he still had questions which would require answers but, seeing Jack standing in Jasmine’s bedroom, clutching a small pink stuffed animal in his hands as he sobbed, Ianto knew now was not the time to distance himself. Jack needed him now more than ever.

“Will…” Ianto said softly, stepping into the bedroom slowly, not wanting to startle the other man.

Jack looked up in surprise when he heard his name and he lowered the teddy before turning to face Ianto, not bothering to hide his tears from the other man. Ianto had seen him looking worse than he did right now.

“I’m surprised you don’t agree with everyone else,” Jack muttered, placing the teddy on Jasmine’s pillow reverently. “I’m a monster.”

Ianto shook his head, sitting on the bed next to Jack and pulling him closer. “You’re not a monster,” he whispered.

Jack snorted with laughter and shook his head. “You practically said it yourself. All the stuff I’ve done in the past. The murder… torture… stealing… lying… all of it; they’re all just as bad. And to just give up Jasmine like that…”

“You didn’t give her up,” Ianto retorted, sliding his arm around Jack and gripping his shoulder tightly. “I know you, you would never have let her go like that if it wasn’t the last resort.”

“The faeries, they would have destroyed everything in their path to get to Jasmine, you know that. What you did was the kindest thing that could have been done.”

Jack laughed bitterly and wiped the back of his hand across his cheeks. “Tell that to her mother,” he muttered, glancing around the room and feeling a fresh wave of emotion wash over him. “She’s never going to find her body and, now she’ll never know what happened to her.”

Ianto pulled Jack closer, pressing his lips against the top of the Captain’s head. They had Retconned everyone at the party and when they awoke, all of them would believe that Jasmine had disappeared on her way home from school one day and her step-dad was killed in a tragic road accident. None of them would remember the faeries, Jack or the true tragedy of what happened.

“Why are you really still here?” Jack suddenly asked, pulling back and sitting upright so he could look into Ianto's eyes. “All that stuff you said to me and the cold shoulder you’ve been giving me… What made you come back?”

Ianto placed a hand under Jack’s chin, tilting his head back so he could see all of Jack’s face. “Because I knew the rest of them wouldn’t – couldn’t – understand what you’re going through. The pain you feel at letting something this bad happen… I’ve seen what happens when you retreat into yourself and I refuse to let that happen again.”

He physically shuddered at the memory; they had been on a training exercise during Ianto's first year at the training academy when it went horribly wrong and Jack had lost one of his students. 

For the young man to witness his lover and mentor at such a low point had been both terrifying and an eye opener. It had been at that point when he realised he had to do anything to survive and cut himself off completely from the world, if he wanted to avoid reaching the same dark place Will had been at.

Their lips met in a soft, salty kiss and Jack could feel acceptance flowing from Ianto. He knew he wasn’t completely off the hook for not telling him the truth, but the fact that Ianto was still there when the rest – even Gwen, who seemed to stand by him no matter what – had fled, had to mean something surely.

“I know you loved Estelle,” Ianto whispered against Jack’s lips. “And I can’t even begin to understand what you’re feeling about losing both her and Jasmine to the fairies, but I do know that letting Jasmine go wasn’t the worst thing you’ve ever done.”

TBC


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The wind was beginning to pick up as Ianto unlocked the boot of the SUV and pulled it open. “Are you sure camping is the best idea in this weather?” he asked as he threw several rolled up tents into the back.

Jack nodded his head and slid his own bag into the boot, slotting it next to Ianto's and the space where the rest of the team’s gear would go when they arrived. “There are people going missing out there, we need to investigate.”

“That could be anything,” Ianto responded, sitting on the tailgate and looking up at Jack. “How do you know it’s got something to do with the Rift?”

“How do you know it hasn’t?” Jack challenged, moving so that he was stood between Ianto's legs.

The younger man rolled his eyes and rested his hands on Jack’s hips when he bent down to capture his lips in his own. Their lips parted and tongues met, and both groaned into each other’s mouths.

“Oi!” came Owen’s voice from a short distance away from them. “Can’t you two leave each other alone for longer than five minutes?”

Jack laughed against Ianto's lips and kissed him hotly once more before pulling away. “If you wanted a kiss, Owen, all you had to do was ask,” he smirked, moving to kiss Owen.

The doctor pulled a face and ducked around Jack, throwing his bag into the boot. “You’re disgusting, Harkness,” he stated, opening the passenger door and sliding inside.

“What’d you think you’re doing?” Ianto demanded. “I’m sitting there.”

Owen scowled and looked down at the seat and himself, “No, you’re not. I am.”

Stepping between the pair of them, Jack raised his hands in an attempt to stop the squabbling. “Owen, you can sit in the front going. Ianto gets the front coming back.” He rolled his eyes and closed the boot once the girls had put their bags in. “I swear, it’s like working with children.”

Ianto, who was sat directly behind Jack, reached around and poked the older man in the side, making Jack yelp in surprise and pain. 

“If you’re going to sit there, can you not grope him?” Owen complained, pulling out his iPod and sticking one headphone in his ear, allowing him to listen to any conversation with the other ear.

“If you’d let me sit there, I wouldn’t have to grope him from behind,” Ianto pointed out, taking pleasure when Owen retched violently.

~

When Ianto reached into the boot to retrieve his bag, Jack placed a hand over his, making him look up at him questioningly.

“I meant what I said last night,” he said softly. “Tonight, when it’s just you and me, I’ll explain everything I can to you. How long I’ve been here, how I was made this way… well, as best as I can anyway.”

Ianto nodded his head, “Okay,” he whispered, stepping into Jack’s personal space and kissing him lightly.

“Urgh!” Owen complained, rounding the corner and seeing them together. “Why am I always the one to catch you two?” he demanded.

“You didn’t have to demonstrate, you know?” he scowled, grabbing his own bag and throwing it into the smaller of the three tents; the girls would get one, while Jack and Ianto would have the third.

“Demonstrate for what?” Jack asked, frowning in confusion as he placed his own bag just inside the tent.

Owen rolled his eyes and pulled a chair closer around what would later be the campfire. “Gwen’s playing ‘who was your last snog’. Which, by the way, makes you sound like an eight year old. Who the hell says ‘snog’, anyway?”

Gwen glared at him and threw a nearby rock at the doctor, which he only just managed to duck. “What about you, Tosh?” she asked, turning to the Japanese woman beside her.

Tosh hesitated, not liking the feel of everyone looking at her, before she answered, “Owen.”

Jack’s head jerked up in surprise and they all turned to Owen who was looking at her in disbelief.

“What? Only in your dreams, Tosh.”

Tosh nodded her head firmly, “It was Christmas Eve, outside the Millennium Centre. We were waiting for a taxi.”

“Mine was Rhys,” Gwen interrupted, trying to turn attention away from Tosh so the other woman didn’t feel too exposed or embarrassed.

“That’s not much of a surprise,” Ianto stated, pulling open the food cooler and inspecting the contents.

All of them turned to Owen, already knowing who Jack’s last kiss was. The young doctor rolled his eyes and huffed in irritation. “Fine, if you must know… My last ‘snog’ was… Gwen.”

~

Ianto groaned and slid his arms around Jack, sliding his hands down his back to grip his arse. “I should have known you’d want sex in the middle of the forest,” he panted.

Jack, who was supporting his weight against the tree with one hand and gripping Ianto's cock with the other, grinned and captured his lover’s lips in a passionate kiss. “I… don’t hear you complaining.”

In fact, Ianto was doing the exact opposite of complaining; he was moaning so loud, Jack was sure the other’s back at the campsite could hear him.

As both felt their orgasms wash over them, twigs in the surrounding area snapped under someone’s footsteps.

“Oh my!” Gwen gasped, quickly turning away and looking up at the sky, cursing herself for not realising what they were doing. “I’m sorry… I didn’t realise,” she murmured, feeling his cheeks colour as she heard them redressing themselves. 

“It’s okay,” Jack grinned widely, winking at her teasingly when she turned back around. “A few minutes earlier you would have got a better show.”

Ianto scowled and swatted Jack’s arm in irritation; while he was used to listening to Jack’s lewd comments, something about them being directed towards Gwen got him more riled up than they should.

“Something wrong?” Ianto asked shortly, having no qualms about showing his annoyance at the Welshwoman for interrupting them.

Gwen nodded her head, only just remembering why she had been looking for them. “We found a skeleton.”

~

A car engine starting in the background diverted their attention away from the remains in front of them. 

“Is that ours?” Gwen asked in surprise. All the team was around the body, no one could have been driving.

“Yeah,” Jack scowled, jumping to his feet and bounding off through the trees, the rest of the team hot on his heels.

They watched in horror as the large black SUV served around the campsite, destroying their newly-erected tents, before driving off into the distance.

“Who left the keys in the car?” Jack demanded angrily, rounding on the other team members.

Gwen and Tosh looked away from his glare awkwardly; Ianto met his expression, never breaking eye contact as he shook his head. Owen slowly raised his hand and Jack let out a grown of frustration; after a lot of whining from the doctor, Jack had let him drive most of the way to the campsite, only for him to do something so stupid.

“Owen!” Tosh cried, slapping him on the arm. 

“What?” Owen shrieked defensively, rubbing at his sore arm. “We’re in the middle of the fucking countryside, how was I supposed to know it’d get nicked out here?”

Ianto had moved a few feet away from them and Jack stepped closer, placing a hand on his back as he looked over his shoulder. The younger man already had his Vortex Manipulator open and was busy pressing a series of numbers.

“Anything?” he sighed.

The other Time Agent nodded his head, “It’s stationary now.”

“Stationary?” Gwen repeated pushing her way between the couple so she could face them. “Why would they be parked? Wouldn’t it make more sense to drive as fast as you could, for as long as you could? What are they doing?”

Jack shrugged his shoulders, “Only one way to find out. Anyone fancy a walk?”

~

Gwen lay on her back, trying desperately not to cry from the pain she felt in her abdomen. Every time Owen went to remove a piece of buckshot, she let out a pained grunt and gritted her teeth, determined to ride out the pain and get back to work.

“There are others,” the stranger was telling Jack, looking at him fearfully; he still wasn’t sure what the Time Agent was going to do to him. “They’re out there waiting.”

“Tosh and Ianto are out there,” Owen stated, making eye contact with Jack for a moment before returning to Gwen and her bleeding injury.

Jack sighed and nodded his head. “They’ll be okay. Ianto knows what to do if something happens; he won’t let Tosh get hurt.”

Deep inside he wasn’t sure how accurate that statement was. While Ianto had become close to Tosh during the past few months, looking out for only himself was still drilled into the assassin’s head.

“Nothing we can do right now,” Jack continued. “Let’s just hope they’re okay.”

TBC


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Ianto came around the back of the farmhouse and found himself in the line of Tosh’s gun. “It’s me!” he assured her, holding his hands up in surrender.

She offered him and embarrassed smile and lowered the weapon. “Sorry, I thought I heard something.”

He scowled and pulled his own gun out, feeling safer knowing he had a means of protecting them both. He turned around and checked the area behind him, only turning back to Tosh once he was sure he hadn’t been followed.

Tosh had vanished; the area in front of him was completely empty. “Tosh?” he said quietly, not wanting to alert anyone to his presence.

Silence replied him and he took a few steps forward, listening for any unusual sounds in the area around him. The only thing he could hear was the wind blowing through the trees and the rustling of leaves.

He rounded a corner and brought his gun up, ready to shoot at an attacker. Only, there was nobody there. Jack had been right, there was definitely something strange going on.

Before he had chance to continue searching for Tosh, he felt something hit him hard in the back of his head and everything went black.

~

Everything was still black when he opened his eyes, although when his eyes became adjusted to the darkness, he could see that he was in a dimly lit room, similar to a barn.

“Ianto?” Tosh breathed, seeing that he was awake and rushing to his side. She crouched down, touching his neck and the back of his head gently. “Are you okay?” she whispered, making sure to keep her voice down; she wasn’t entirely positive that they weren’t being listened to.

He swallowed and sat up, pressing his own fingers against the cut on his head. It felt hot and sticky, and he immediately knew he was bleeding; he also knew that it probably wasn’t as bad as it seemed, head wounds always bled more than anywhere else, in his experience.

“Where are we?” he croaked, frowning when he realised how dry his throat was.

Tosh shrugged her shoulders, helping the still slightly woozy man to his feet. “I don’t know,” she responding, taking a look around her as though she expected something to jump out of the shadows at them; which, all things considered, wasn’t an entirely irrational fear.

Hoping his Vortex Manipulator could get them out of there, Ianto pushed his sleeve back and cursed loudly. In the pale light, he could see that it was missing from its usual place on his right wrist.

“What?” Tosh asked urgently.

“The bastards took my wristband,” Ianto growled, pushing his sleeve back down before beginning to pace the small space like a caged animal. “It’s got a teleport on it, we could have used it.”

“Teleport?” Tosh whispered, her voice filled with awe and wonderment. “So you are from the future,” she murmured, more to herself than Ianto.

Silence fell over them as they tried to think of a way out of their current predicament, until Tosh eventually plucked up the courage to ask what was truly on her mind. “You know, we’ve never really questioned you about how you know Jack?”

Ianto turned to her, knowing where this conversation was heading and that it couldn’t be a good thing. “Tosh…” he sighed and lowered his head, “I’m sorry, but please don’t ask me to tell you where I know him from. We’re from the same place and I don’t mind telling you, but they’re not just my secrets. They’re Jack’s as well and it’s not fair.”

Tosh nodded her head in understanding, feeling childish for even thinking Ianto would betray Jack’s trust so easily. “Sorry,” she whispered. “If you’re from the same place, why do you have different accents?”

He chuckled and rolled his eyes, wincing when he felt a bolt of pain shoot through his head from the action. “There are different regions where we’re from. I’m from the area similar to Wales, Jack’s from a place like America; that’s why our accents sound like they do.” He figured he wasn’t really betraying anyone’s trust by telling her that tiny bit of information.

Before Tosh could question him further, the door opened, flooding the room with light and they came face to face with one of their kidnappers.

~

The instant they were left alone, Ianto got to his feet and hurriedly crossed the room. He turned his back and carefully grabbed his Vortex Manipulator from where it was carelessly strewn on the counter top; clearly their attackers had thought it was worthless and was okay to be left in their presence now.

“Here,” he whispered, pressing his back against Tosh’s and transferring the wristband into her bound hands. “Press the two biggest buttons and it’ll teleport you to Jack; it’s already got his frequency tuned into it.”

Tosh shook her head, “I’m not leaving without you,” she whispered, keeping her eyes trained on the door in front of them. 

“And I’m not going to let you die here,” Ianto hissed. “It’ll only teleport one person. Find Jack and get him here as fast as possible.”

He pressed his lips against her forehead quickly before she teleported away, seconds before his crazy captor returned.

~

“Jack!” Gwen cried, rushing forward and stopping the Captain from putting a bullet through the man’s brain. “Don’t you want to know why he did it?”

“Not particularly,” Jack growled, cocking the hammer back.

She tugged urgently on his sleeve. “I need to know,” she insisted, looking at him with doe-eyes.

Seeing the look in her eyes, Jack turned his gun around and smacked the man across the face with the barrel, knocking him out cold. “He stays here,” he told everyone, handcuffing him to the table.

Jack stood upright and turned back to Gwen. “You are not to go near him,” he ordered her. “I don’t care how much you feel like you need to know, you’re not talking to him. Period. Owen,” he turned to the doctor, “make sure she goes to the hospital to get that wound checked out.”

Ianto and Tosh had left the room earlier, neither of them able to stomach the sight of the dead flesh hanging in front of them for any longer. Tosh was near a police car, talking to a rather handsome police officer and seemed to be okay for the moment.

Looking around, Jack found Ianto sitting on the tailgate of the SUV, resting his hands on his knees with his head leant forward. “Hey,” Jack greeted, sitting down next to him and wrapping an arm around the younger man. “How you handling this?”

Ianto laughed and shook his head. “That wasn’t the worst situation I’ve ever been in, but I’ve never been so scared,” he admitted quietly. 

Jack leant closer and pressed his lips against the top of Ianto's head. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

The other Time Agent shook his head. “I wasn’t scared for me; I was scared for Tosh. I can handle myself in life and death situations, you trained me for them. But she didn’t sign up for something like this. All I could think of was getting her out of there and making sure she was safe.”

Jack smiled and hugged him tightly. “Maybe living in the twenty first century will be good for you as well.”

Tosh came rushing up to the couple, interrupting their conversation. “I thought you might want this back,” she whispered, handing the Vortex Manipulator back to Ianto.

She hesitated for a second before placing a kiss on his cheek, whispering, “Thanks,” before leaving the couple alone once more.

TBC


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The plane was due to land in thirty minutes according to Tosh’s calculations. The other team members had looked on gratefully as Ianto offered to help Jack greet them. None of them seemed to be aware that he had only agreed so the couple could talk. 

Things had been so hectic in the wake of their countryside adventures, and the following weeks, that neither man had managed to find time to speak to each other properly.

Jack took a drink from the takeaway cup of coffee he was holding in his hand. It wasn’t as good as Ianto's, but the other man hadn’t had chance to make a fresh pot before they left, so they had stopped off at Starbucks on the way to the airfield.

“I’d been away from the agency for about a year before I ran into him,” he started, making Ianto's head snap up in surprise at the random comment.

“Him?”

Realising he had started speaking halfway through a sentence, Jack back tracked and clarified, “The Doctor.”

Ianto let out a noise of recognition and nodded his head. “His name was mentioned a few times at Torchwood One.” 

“I first met him in London, 1941. After I left the agency I started finding worthless pieces of junk and selling them to Time Agents, hoping that I could bribe one of them enough to get my memories back.”

Jack took another drink and a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing. “I met the Doctor at the height of the London Blitz. I went travelling with him and his companion, Rose.” He smiled at the thought of her, “She was… Well, she would have fit in back home. So accepting of new ideas and theories.”

“What happened to her?” Ianto asked softly.

The older Time Agent swallowed and closed his eyes, willing away the tears that were threatening to fall. “As far as I know, she died… at Canary Wharf.”

Ianto sighed and covered Jack’s hand with his own, murmuring his apologies.

“We were in the year 200,100,” Jack continued speaking, “and we found ourselves in the middle of a Dalek invasion. There I was, all willing to die fighting for the Doctor and I did. I was exterminated.”

He checked his watch to check how long they had left before the plane was supposed to arrive. When he was sure they still had plenty of time, he continued, “The next thing I knew, I woke up alone and surrounded by Dalek dust.”

“What happened?”

Jack shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know,” he replied honestly. “They left me there. I arrived in time to watch the TARDIS disappear into thin air.”

Ianto squeezed Jack’s hand tightly and the other man continued, “I used my Vortex Manipulator to travel from the Game Station to what I thought was the twenty-first century.”

“You said it’s been a hundred and fifty years for you,” Ianto commented, frowning in confusion.

The other man blushed bashfully and lowered his head. “I misjudged a little and ended up in 1869. I was stuck there, ‘cause this,” he raised his left wrist, “burnt out, making the teleport and time travelling features completely useless.”

“And that’s why it’s been a hundred and fifty years for you,” Ianto finished, nodding in understanding. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” 

Unlike the previous times he had asked that same question, Ianto didn’t feel any anger towards the other Time Agent, he only felt sadness that Jack had been forced to live for so long without anyone knowing or understanding.

“I don’t know…” Jack sighed, thinking Ianto's question over. “I guess, the few times I have told people, they’ve always treated me like a freak. I just didn’t want… I didn’t want you to treat me like that.”

Ianto placed his hand under Jack’s chin, turning the older Time Agent’s head to face him. He smiled and kissed him softly, “I wouldn’t have thought that,” he assured him, leaning his forehead against Jack’s. “But it would have been nice to be trusted to be given the choice.”

Jack smiled apologetically and kissed Ianto once more, sliding his tongue past the younger Time Agent’s lips, wanting to taste every inch of his mouth.

Ianto pulled back and looked into the other man’s blue eyes, “Will, I…” 

The roar of a plane engine cut him off and they looked up to see a plane flying through the Rift and headings for the runway, filled with a punch of passengers from 1953.

TBC


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Jack glanced over at the passenger seat and smiled when he saw Ianto leaning back in the seat, chattering away happily on the phone to Tosh. The pair had become so much closer since their abduction by cannibals; it was a wonderful thing to watch.

“I will!” Ianto laughed and rolled his eyes. “I swear, Tosh. I have it right here in front of me,” he glanced at his lap where the laptop case was lying. “We’re going to check out the dancehall and then we’ll be back… I promise, I won’t let it out of my sight.”

He grinned as he snapped the phone closed and slid it into his pocket. “She’s paranoid,” he told Jack.

The Captain grinned back at him and pulled the car up to the front of the Ritz dancehall. “She’s just worried her information will get lost,” he replied fondly. “Can’t blame the girl for that.”

Together they got out of the car and headed to the door of the dance hall. “Are you going to vote?” Ianto asked, nodding to the ‘Vote Saxon’ poster plastered to the wall.

Jack followed his gaze and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not really a registered voter,” he replied, pushing the door open and standing aside to let Ianto in. “But I might fake a voters card… There’s just something about Saxon. I don’t know what it is, but…”

“Yeah,” Ianto agreed following him up the stairs to the main dance hall. “He really gets people, doesn’t he? Wow!” he murmured, seeing the dusty tables and light fixtures. “Look at that chandelier,” he added, looking up at the covered light.

“No neon lights back then,” Jack commented, moving around the room glancing around him. “Just dashing soldiers and pretty young ladies.” He held his hand out to Ianto and pulled him closer, spinning him around in the process.

“I thought we came here to work, not dance,” Ianto grinned, stepping away from Jack with a shake of his head.

Jack pouted a little before laughing, “Why can’t we do both?” he asked, following Ianto down the staircase. 

He glanced at the graffiti on the wall as he passed, “Bad wolf?” he whispered under his breath.

Ianto turned back to him with a look of confusion. “What?”

He shook his head, “Nothing,” he muttered, turning away from the graffiti. “I just feel like I’ve heard those words somewhere before, that’s all.”

The younger Time Agent studied the writing before shrugging his shoulders. “Whoever drew it has probably plastered half of Cardiff with those words.”

Suddenly music began to filter in from the dance floor above them. Cautiously they made their way up the stairs, following the noise.

What had been an empty room a few moments ago, was now filled with men in uniform and gorgeous girls laughing and dancing with each other.

“Will?” Ianto asked, as they made their way towards the door. 

Jack already had his Vortex Manipulator open and was busy scanning the room. “They’re not ghosts,” he replied, clicking the cover closed. “It’s a simple temporal shift…” he laughed happily and looked around him. “And it’s beautiful.”

Ianto rolled his eyes and placed his hands on Jack’s back, urging him down the stairs. “As pretty as they may be, we need to get home,” he informed Jack, pulling him out of the door.

“Do call again,” the elderly man smiled as he held the door open for the couple.

Jack grinned and threw one last look around the bar, “Oh I would love to,” he replied before Ianto yanked him out on to the street. 

“What the Hell?” Jack cried, seeing that the previously bright sky was now dark and the SUV was missing.

Ianto flicked his own wrist band open and frowned when he saw the results. “According to this the SUV hasn’t moved from here. How is that possible?”

Jack remained silent and crossed the street, reading the text on a nearby poster. “Ianto… the SUV hasn’t been stolen. We have.”

~

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Tosh’s voice rang out through the Hub, making Owen freeze in his tracks.

“How do you do that?” he demanded, whirling around and looking at the computer technician who was still sat at her computer and seemingly busy working.

“CCTV,” Tosh replied, still not looking up as she continued typing. “If you don’t want Ianto to shoot you when he gets back, I’d stay away from the coffee machine; you’ve seen how good a shot he is.”

Owen scowled and placed the cup he was holding on the counter with a bang. “I wish Jack would hurry up and hire someone else, instead of us having to wait until lover boy’s around before we can have a cup!”

Tosh’s computer started beeping and Owen scowled at it in annoyance. “What’s that?” the doctor cried over the loud noise.

A few keyboard strokes later, Tosh determined that there was Rift activity around the Ritz dancehall and they needed to get Jack and Ianto away from there.

Gwen tried to use her mobile phone to call the couple. “It’s dead.”

~

He shook his head and slid the phone back into his pocket. “It’s no use,” he told Jack. “There’s no signal. Apparently the Archangel call plan doesn’t extend this far.”

Jack chuckled and placed a hand on Ianto's lower back. “Let’s get back inside. That’s where we were when we crossed.”

Ianto looked around when they re-entered the dancehall and couldn’t help smiling at Jack’s enthusiasm. Even if he didn’t know that the other man had lived through the 1940’s before, the way his eyes lit up happily was a clear indicator of how much he loved the period.

“What are we going to do?” he whispered. “At least you blend in,” he added, glancing down at Jack’s usual ‘40’s clothes.

Jack flashed him a grin and lead Ianto up the stairs back to the dance floor. “Just relax and act like you belong here, you’ll be okay,” he assured him. “We need to figure out a way to get back.”

“Tosh could help us,” Ianto replied. “If we weren’t completely cut off from them, with no way to communicate. Plus, I have her laptop here,” he patted the computer carry-case he was holding, “so any figures she might need are here.”

Jack leant against the bar and ordered a scotch for Ianto and a water for himself. “Did she say what she was missing from her calculations?”

Ianto shook his head. “She didn’t even say what she wanted them for. I think it was something to do with the Rift, but she’s pretty secretive when it comes to her work.”

“Don’t I know it,” Jack muttered under his breath, taking a drink from his water. He had no idea how he was going to pay for their tab at the end of the evening but he figured, he’d think of something later. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go blend in with the locals.”

Ianto caught his arm before walked away and leant closer, hissing, “Females only, Will. Try not to get us kicked out of here; they’re not exactly receptive to that sort of thing here, are they?”

Jack laughed and his eyes glistened maddeningly. “You never met Algy… Long story. Be back in a bit.”

Ianto watched as Jack moved across the dance floor with ease, inclining his head to a young woman and holding his hand out. 

Together they moved to the centre of the floor, moving in perfect rhythm with the music; Ianto didn’t remember the other Time Agent ever being able to dance that well.

He took a few steps closer when a tense looking soldier approached the couple. “Do you mind?” he asked Jack, nodding to the woman.

“We were just dancing,” Jack replied, not taking a step away from the lady. “Wait your turn.”

“That’s my girl!” the young man cried, placing a hand on Jack’s shoulder and pulling him away. 

“I’m only borrowing her,” Jack replied.

The solider stepped closer to Jack, getting right in his face as he spoke. “Maybe I don’t want you borrowing her.”

“Will,” Ianto murmured, stepping up to Jack and trying to calm him down. “We’re here to blend in, don’t make a scene.”

An American voice cut through their confrontation, “Everything okay here?” and all of them fell silent.

The pilot nodded his head, mumbled something none of them could make out before he slouched away from the small group. 

“Thanks,” Jack murmured, shrugging his shoulders and pushing his tension away. 

They watched as they newcomer turned to them and flashed all of them a smile. “Don’t mention it,” he assured them. “Let’s get a drink.”

On their way to the bar, the American asked if they were volunteers as well. Ianto remained silent, more than happy to let Jack speak for him; after all, he was the one who knew what he was talking about.

“I’m Captain…” the both began before laughing and shaking their heads.

“You first,” Jack instructed, waving his hand toward the other man.

“I’m Captain Jack Harkness, 133rd squadron.”

~

Owen was staring at the pictures on the screen in front of him. Jack and Ianto weren’t just missing, they were trapped in 1941 and would likely be blown to pieces if they didn’t get out of there soon.

He wasn’t going to let them stay stuck there. Losing Diane was one thing, losing his Captain and team mate was a completely different story. One Owen was not about to sit around waiting to see how it ended.

Snatching his leather jacket and backpack, Owen stormed out of the conference room and down the metal staircase.

“Where are you going?” Tosh demanded, looking up when she heard his loud footsteps.

“To the Ritz,” Owen stated. “We need to do something instead of sitting on our arses while they’re trapped there.”

“I am working!” Tosh cried indignantly. “I’m writing a calculation to open the Rift temporarily, but without their exact co-ordinates, it’s not going to work.”

“Can’t you find them?” Tosh shook her head miserably; for some reason pinning down their exact location was more difficult than it should be. “Then maybe I’ll find something there that’ll help.”

She remained silent, watching as Owen disappeared through the cog door. He was right, without a little outside help they were never going to bring the couple back and she had no idea how they would cope without them.

~

Ianto took the glass from Will’s hands and looked up into his blue eyes. “You can’t help him,” he told him softly. “You know you can’t.”

Will nodded his head, averting his gaze to the table in front of him. “I know,” he whispered. “If he doesn’t die tomorrow, I won’t take his name which means I won’t be here today.” He let out a bitter laugh and shook his head, “God, I hate rules.”

They fell silent again, Ianto not knowing what to say and Will not wanting to say anything. Being this close to someone whose last moments would take place the following evening, was too much for him and he felt as though he were suffocating. But he couldn’t bring himself to leave the room.

Jack crossed the room and placed a hand over Will’s, pulling him to his feet and onto the dance floor. Oblivious to the sad look on Ianto's face. 

The Time Agent would have been lying if he had said he wasn’t jealous, watching the pair dance, but there was something about them… something so beautiful and mesmerising, that was heartbreaking to watch.

~

“I mean it, Owen,” Tosh cried, her hand wavering slightly but never lowering completely. “We can’t open the Rift yet, we don’t have all the figures.”

“Maybe the manipulator can figure out the rest,” Owen retorted, taking a step backwards towards the machine.

“I know you’re upset over Diane, but you have to let her go. Like we’ve all had to do at some point.”

Owen scoffed, “Like you’d know what it’s like to love someone and to have them vanish like that. You just fall in love with mind reading aliens. That Rift…” he looked up at the base of the water tower, “took my lover and my Captain. So, if I die bringing them back, it’ll all be in the line of duty!”

He span around and pressed the key into place, just as Tosh pulled the trigger.

~

Jack downed his third glass of scotch and reached to pour himself another. He didn’t drink much, he needed to have a clear head for when the Doctor returned, but there were certain moods and times that required a little alcoholic retrospection. 

“Drink?” he asked, holding up the bottle when Ianto entered the office. 

His jacket had been discarded a short while earlier, although his waistcoat was still in place. The sleeves on his dark shirt were rolled up to the elbow and he had his hands in his pockets as he leant against the door jam.

Ianto nodded his head and entered the room fully, accepting the glass from Jack when it was offered. “You okay?”

Jack gave a hollow laugh and took a small sip of the bronze coloured liquid. “He died, twelve hours after we left.”

“And you gave him something to remember in his last moments,” Ianto retorted. “I guarantee you that when his plane went down the only thing he could focus on was you and the way your lips feel…”

Ianto proved his point by stepping closer to Jack and running his thumb across the older man’s lips. 

“You’re taking me kissing another man in front of you very well,” Jack commented, placing his glass on the desk and sliding his arms around Ianto.

Sliding his arms down Jack’s back, Ianto pulled him closer, nuzzling at his neck with contentment. “Have I ever complained about you having other lovers?”

Jack grinned and kissed Ianto softly, trying to push away the sorrow and remorse he was feeling. “No, I guess you haven’t.”

TBC


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mention of past parental death.

Chapter 24

“When I first met him, he told me he couldn’t die,” Gwen almost whispered, brushing Jack’s hair away from his forehead in a way that made Ianto want to scream at her.

“Clearly he was wrong,” Owen replied, looking down at their Captain with a pained expression. “Has he mentioned anything about this happening before?” he asked, turning to Ianto who was standing by Jack’s feet with a far away expression on his face.

Ianto shook his head, “Every time he’s come back to life, it’s been a matter of minutes. He’s been dead hours. I don’t think…” He broke off, unwilling to say the words they were all thinking. 

“I need to put him away,” Owen spoke, not wanting to actually admit that Jack wasn’t coming back, but knowing that they had to be practical about things and death was just another part of the Torchwood package.

“No,” Gwen said stubbornly. “He’s coming back. I refuse to think of him as gone.”

“Gwen…” Tosh started, only to be interrupted when the Welshwoman shook her head. 

“I am not leaving him to come back from the dead to an empty morgue.”

The rest of the team exchanged glances before they agreed to leave her alone to come to terms with what she very clearly could not accept.

Owen patted Jack’s cold shoulder, muttering his apologies to the Captain before moving away. Tosh, fighting back tears, leant down and pressed her lips against Jack’s pale cheek, sobbing a thank you to him (although what she was thanking him for, none of them were quite sure).

Gwen let out an indignant cry when she felt Ianto's hands on her shoulders, moving her to the side so he could get closer to Jack’s face. She watched as the young man pressed his lips against Jack’s unresponsive ones and whispered something in a language she didn’t know, before moving away, not looking back as he left the morgue.

~

“Who did you see?” Tosh asked quietly as they cleaned up the mess that had been made during Abaddon’s return from the depths of… wherever it was he had come from.

“Does it really matter?” Owen snapped, tightening a screw before throwing the screwdriver into a nearby toolbox. “We opened the Rift and now Jack’s closed it, even if he did give his life in the process.”

Ianto, not wanting to have Tosh ask him who he had seen, grabbed a spanner and moved across the Hub to his workstation. 

It was only when he was safely hidden away under the desk that he allowed himself to think of what – who – had convinced him to betray Jack’s trust and enter the security codes to fully open the Rift.

~

_Ianto watched as Jack headed back up to the stairs and out of the cell area. He had no idea what was wrong with the Weevil, only that the ugly was making a horrible noise and it was hurting his head._

_Jack thought they were sensing the temporal shifts Owen had caused throughout the world, but that seemed like a little bit of a stretch. Although, since none of them knew what the Weevils were even called really, he decided it wasn’t his place to make judgements about what they were feeling._

_The overhead lights flickered and he frowned; they hadn’t had problems with the power since before Lisa had been discovered a few levels below where he was stood at that moment._

_He glanced up from the cage and instantly felt his blood run cold at the sight in front of him. “Tad?” he whispered, his voice completely filled with disbelief._

_The man standing in front of him looked exactly the same as he had done the last time Ianto had seen him. His hair was the same sandy brown it had always been and his eyes were glistening in the same way Ianto's own did in dim light. But it wasn’t possible for the other man to be there, he was…_

_“Ianto,” he greeted, his mouth turning upwards in a tight smile. “It’s getting worse,” he stated in a language yet to be invented as he took his son’s hand in his._

_“Everything is going to get worse. People are going to die, thousands of people. There’ll be nothing you can do to stop it. You have to open the Rift; it’s the only way.”_

~

Ianto had been avoiding Jack for the past hour and even though he was afraid of what the newly resurrected Captain would say to him, he found himself drawn to Jack’s office.

“Come in,” Jack called, not looking up from the papers he was organising on his desk. Ianto knew he wasn’t actually doing any work, since the other Time Agent had finished it for Jack while he had been lying on a slab in the morgue.

He closed the door behind him and made his way over to the desk. “Hey,” he greeted, putting his hands on Jack’s shoulders.

The other man was already wearing his great coat, almost as though he expected to go somewhere; although Ianto suspected it was more to do with security than anything else.

Jack grinned and got to his feet, turning around and looping his arms around Ianto's shoulders. 

“I’m sorry,” Ianto whispered, pressing his lips against Jack’s. “If I hadn’t have seen him, I would have never helped them open the Rift.”

A frown creased Jack’s forehead and he asked, “Seen who?”

“My tad,” Ianto whispered, biting his lip and willing down tears at the thought of the other man who had even born yet by linear standards.

Jack smiled in sympathy and kissed him gently. “It wasn’t really him. You can’t blame yourself for all this, Billis showed us the people he knew would convince us to open the Rift. Even I was tempted,” he admitted.

Ianto met Jack’s eyes with his own and he immediately knew whom Jack had seen a vision of. It had been a long time since the night Jack had told him about his family, but Ianto could still remember the pain in his voice when he recalled that tragic day.

Their lips met again and this time there was no gentleness at all; it wasn’t about tenderness or remorse, it was about reconnecting with each other.

Frantic hands pushed Jack’s coat to the ground as Jack’s own wandering hands pulled Ianto's suit jacket off and began working on the buttons of his shirt.

Ianto groaned and tipped his head back as he felt Jack’s teeth at his throat. He leant back on the desk, wrapping his long legs around Jack’s lean waist, grinding their hips together. Together they let out a pleasured moan when they felt their erections brush together.

Sliding one hand down the back of Jack’s trousers, squeezing his arse almost painfully, as his other hand made short work of his zip, Ianto gasped, “Please, Will. I need you… Need to feel you’re still…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, nor did he need to. Both knew Ianto needed reassurance that Jack wasn’t lying in the morgue any more.

Jack leant down, kissing Ianto in a clash of teeth and tongues and he quickly yanked the remainder of his own clothes off, doing the same with Ianto's.

When they were both naked, Jack pressed his chest flush against Ianto's, groaning at the feeling of flesh on flesh. 

Ianto arched his back and hissed in pain when he felt Jack slowly enter his unprepared body. It burnt like nothing Ianto had ever felt before, but he didn’t care; the pain he felt was just another reassurance that Jack was okay and alive with him.

Their movements quickly changed from controlled and leisurely, to hurried and eager as they felt the pressure increase.

Jack reached between their bodies, grasping Ianto's cock in his gun callused hand and began stroking him in time with his thrust. 

On every other thrust, Jack would brush against Ianto's prostate and it wasn’t long before the younger Time Agent began murmuring words in their native tongue, before he clenched around Jack and came over their stomachs.

The already tight ring of muscles contracting around his sensitive flesh was too much for Jack and he thrust in three more times before he too came, Ianto's name of his lips as he buried himself deep inside his lover.

~

Gwen tapped her foot in annoyance as she watched Jack giving his coffee orders to Ianto from his office. They had decided to head out to get something to drink, since Ianto's precious coffee machine had been destroyed with the rest of the Hub.

Although, at the rate they were going, Starbucks was going to be closed by the time they got there.

“Jack!” Ianto cried when Jack slapped his already tender arse; he wouldn’t normally have called him that, but the rest of the team were within earshot and now was not the time to explain that particular detail about their leader’s past to them.

“We’ll be back in a bit,” he chided, seeing Jack’s mock-pout. Something about coming back from the dead seemed to make his lover act hyper and more like a teenager than usual. 

Eventually he managed to pull himself out of Jack’s grip and follow the rest of the team from the Hub, up to the Tourist office.

Jack chuckled to himself and was about to head back into his office where he would wait for Ianto naked, when he noticed the liquid in his jar was bubbling.

He sprinted across the Hub, staring at the hand in disbelief. When a light wind blew through the structure and he heard the familiar whirring of engines Jack grinned, knowing that noise could only mean one thing.

The Doctor was back.

TBC


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Jack’s departure had shaken the entire Torchwood Cardiff team. So soon after his return from the dead, it seemed to sting that much more when they realised Jack wasn’t anywhere in the Hub.

Ianto had checked the CCTV footage for the Hub and the Plass to see if he could figure out what had happened to his lover. The instant he saw the blue Police Box, he knew what had drawn Jack’s presence away from them. He recalled stories – myths – from Torchwood London, of a legendary Time Lord whose space ship was a blue box. 

That must have been Jack’s Doctor, there was no one else who could pull him away from the team he had handpicked.

After cleaning up the Hub again, Ianto had sent the rest of the team home. Only Gwen had resisted until exhaustion had taken over and she had sulkily grabbed her bag and left.

Going back to an empty apartment after a year of living with someone was horrible. The bed was too big and every sound seemed amplified in the silent space. He would have stayed at the Hub to work, but the events of the past week were slowly catching up with him, and as he fell on to the bed, he could feel himself drifting into a dreamless sleep.

x

Almost a week after Jack’s disappearance, a loud beeping pulled Ianto from a deep slumber. 

They had been hunting Weevils all day, and after nearly been killed and patched up by Owen, he had been sent home - “Doctor’s orders” Owen had informed him – and instructed to sleep.

When he realised that the noise was coming from his Vortex Manipulator, he sat bolt upright, trying to ignore the blood rushing to his head. He flicked the light on and reached over to the bedside table. 

His Vortex Manipulator was indeed beeping, indicating that another Time Agent had left a message for him.

Yawning widely, he grabbed the wristband and flipped the cover open. Ianto hesitated for a while, not sure if he should open the message. If it was from anyone other than Jack, they would be able to triangulate his location and track him down. 

Deciding that the likelihood of it being anyone other than his lover was minimal, Ianto entered his security code, allowing him access to his messages. 

In front of his eyes, a blue transparent hologram of Jack appeared. He looked confused for a second before he began to speak. “Ok, I don’t know if this is going to work but here goes.”

Jack looked up and Ianto felt like the other man really was standing in front of him and he had to resist reaching out to try touch. 

“Hey, it’s me,” Jack rolled his eyes, “obviously. By now you’ve probably realised I’ve gone. I don’t know how long I’ve been gone, but I’m sorry I didn’t stick around to explain why but the Doctor wasn’t going to hang around for me either.”

“I’ve been waiting for him for so long, I couldn’t let him leave without me. Not now. I’m sorry,” Jack repeated, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “I’ll be back… I don’t know when, things are a bit hectic here at the minute. But I will come back, I promise. Hell, I might be walking through that door as you listen to this message. I promise I’ll explain everything when I get back.”

Ianto could feel some of his nerves about where Jack had disappeared easing as he listed to the other Time Agent speak.

“You’re in charge of the team now, Ianto. You’ve been my second in command since we lost Suzie; I know I never really told you, but the rest of the team accepted it. Except Gwen, I never got around to telling her.” 

Jack frowned a little. “I know you’ll take care of them until I get back. I…” Jack hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. “I’ll see you soon.”

The image of Jack began to fade and Ianto reached to deactivate the wrist strap, when the colour darkened once more and Jack added, “Oh, and I know you don’t like Owen that much, but try not to let Tosh shoot him again. He’s a good doctor and we might need him in working order.”

Ianto laughed and shook his head, flipping the cover closed and tossing the Manipulator onto the bedside table as he leant back against the pillows. Closing his eyes, he buried his face in Jack’s pillow and eventually managed to fall back to sleep with a small smile on his face.

x

Ianto looked around them at Jack’s team – their team, he mentally corrected himself. The previous week’s events had taken a toll on them and they were all clearly ready for some well-deserved sleep. Although Ianto had a feeling they wouldn’t be able to rest properly until they had a full team once more.

“Right,” he began, leaning back in his chair and looking around at the team, “Jack’s had to go away on a personal matter. He doesn’t know how long he’ll be away, but he will return. While he’s not here, he’s put me in charge.”

He looked at Tosh and Owen to see if they had a problem with this statement. Neither of them looked particularly bothered, which confirmed what Jack had said about them already knowing he was the second in command. 

Gwen’s expression wasn’t a surprise to Ianto. He had been expecting her to react badly to Jack’s instructions, he just hoped she kept quiet about her opinion for the moment; he really didn’t feel like arguing with anyone right then.

Owen yawned widely, making no attempt to cover his mouth or hide it. “That it?”

Ianto nodded and watched as Owen and Tosh got to their feet, both of them leaving the conference room and heading back to their respective workstation. Gwen, on the other hand, remained where she was, staring at Ianto pensively.

“Something wrong?” he asked evenly, meeting her gaze with his.

She didn’t speak for a beat and Ianto thought she had changed her mind about confronting him. “How did Jack get in touch with you?” she eventually asked, her voice full of accusations and suspicion.

“We have a way of getting messages to each other,” he replied evasively, not wanting her to know the full details about Jack’s past without his consent.

Gwen didn’t look impressed with his answer but nevertheless didn’t argue. Instead she nodded her head, getting to her feet silently and leaving the room without saying another word.

With a grateful sigh, Ianto slid further down in his seat, wishing again that Jack were with him again.

x

Almost two months later Ianto tore through the Hub, a scowl on his face as he roughly kicked at a discarded pizza box. Owen followed him silently, holding Tosh up next to him. The temporary dressing on her arm was rapidly turning red as the blood from the wound beneath soaked through. The doctor guided her down to the medical bay where he could patch her up properly.

“Gwen!” Ianto cried, not stopping walking as he headed towards the office. “My office now!” In the past months, he had gotten used to referring to the other Time Agent’s office as his own.

The look on Gwen’s face could only have been described as insubordinate as she stood in the doorway watching him. “Something wrong?” she asked and Ianto could swear she was mocking him.

“After Jack left; in the meeting, did you not listen to a word I said? Jack put me in charge while he’s not here.” Ianto leant forward, leaning against the desk and staring darkly at Gwen. “I’m the one who gives orders to the others, not you.”

Gwen, who had moved to the chair opposite Ianto, jumped to her feet, glaring at him with her hands on her hips. “I was only thinking of what the best thing for the team was!” she tried to defend herself.

Ianto took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before he slid into Jack’s chair. “And because of that one rash decision, Tosh was almost killed and would have been if Owen hadn’t been there to subdue the alien.”

“I know you think that I don’t deserve to be in charge of the team and this may be hard for you to accept, but try to pay attention. Jack put me in charge, not because of our history or feelings for each other, but because I have more experience in dangerous situations.”

“Jack knew I’d be able to look after his team until he got back, otherwise he would have chosen someone else.”

Gwen remained silent through the whole of Ianto's speech, looking more and more like a young child with every second. 

“Now, in the interest of this team’s safety, you’d do well to remember that I know what I’m doing.”

He got up and stalked across the room, almost tearing the door off its hinges as he pulled it open. “Owen?” he shouted down to the doctor who was dressing Tosh’s wound. “When you’ve done there I need to see you.”

TBC


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is set during Sound of the Drums (DW).

Chapter 26

Jack flipped the Vortex Manipulator closed and heaved a sigh as he detached his wristband from the TARDIS computer. The Doctor would kill him if he knew what Jack had just done, but he needed a few moments alone to at least try send a message to Ianto. It had been a long day and, judging by what the Doctor had in mind, it wasn’t going to get easier. 

“Who was that?” a female voice asked from behind him and he span around quickly with a guilty look on his face. Martha Jones was stood behind him, one hand on her hip and the other steadying herself against the centre console of the TARDIS.

“No one,” Jack murmured, averting his eyes and moving through the time travelling machine. Not looking for anything in particular, but making sure he did a good job of pretending like was hunting for something. 

Because he was so busy avoiding her gaze, he missed Martha’s knowing smirk. “Girlfriend troubles?” she called after him.

Jack laughed and shook his head, continuing his search for nothingness.

“Boyfriend? Well that figures; why is it always the really good looking ones?” she sighed, throwing her arms in the air and sinking on to the chair.

The corners of Jack’s mouth twitched up in a smile and he couldn’t stop himself asking, “You think I’m good looking?”

She threw him a dirty look and rolled her eyes. “You two broken up or something?” she persisted, folding her arms across her chest.

He finally gave up the pretence and turned to look at her properly. “There’s nothing to break up. We’re not like that… Boyfriends, I mean.”

Martha frowned and tilted her head to the side, studying the Captain she had only met a few hours before. “Then what are you like? Friends with fringe benefits? A one-night stand?”

“It’s…” he struggled to find the right word, “complicated.”

“Most things generally are.” Martha moved over on the seat and patted the space next to her. “Come on,” she instructed.

Jack, sensing that it was futile to argue with her sat down and immediately began fiddling with a loose thread on the chair next to him. “His name’s Ianto. Ianto Jones.”

Martha chuckled wryly and nodded approvingly. “I like him already,” she commented.

“We… He’s from the fifty-first century like me,” Jack explained, waving his hands in front of him as he spoke, clearly trying to find the right words. “We’ve kinda got a… thing.”

“A thing?” Martha raised an eyebrow curiously. “How long have you two had this ‘thing’?”

Suddenly feeling like he was being interrogated, Jack shifted uncomfortably and swallowed before he answered, “About a year and a half.” He laughed when her jaw dropped in surprise. “We were together for about eighteen months before I left the 51st century, as well.”

“Let me get this straight!” She held up a hand, stopping any further explanations from Jack. “You’ve been ‘seeing’ each other for three years in total and you’re still referring to it as a ‘thing’?”

Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “You don’t get it. Back home – in the 51st century, that is – being monogamous is rare, it’s not something that’s openly displayed. It was actually frowned upon in some circles. At any one time I had at least two lovers, as well as my…Partner, I suppose you’d call it now.”

“And your partner knew about these lovers?” Martha asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

He nodded his head. “It’s kinda hard to keep something like that secret when you come home smelling like someone else’s cologne; especially when I’ve never worn any.”

“I’m assuming Ianto was your partner?”

“Yeah. We met at school… Well, it was more of a training academy. Eighteen months later I had to leave and we didn’t see each other again.” 

“Until a year and a half ago?”

“In Cardiff,” Jack nodded. “We’ve been seeing each other ever since.”

Martha altered her position so she could look at Jack better. “But you’re still not official? What does Ianto think about that?”

The centre of the console of the TARDIS was glowing and Jack found himself mesmerised by her beauty for a while before he answered. “He didn’t really embrace the century’s attitudes towards sexuality. He preferred to have one partner and that was it. He never had any affairs. The way we are now, he’s okay with it. I think. He’s never said anything about it.”

Martha clucked her tongue in annoyance and rolled her eyes, muttering something about the stupidity of men. “Have you ever asked him?” Jack shook his head bashfully. “Don’t you think you should? Just because he hasn’t asked you to stay faithful to just him, doesn’t mean he doesn’t want it.”

“Besides, if you love the guy, what’s the big deal?” she added with a shrug.

Jack’s eyes widened and he shook his head quickly. “Whoa! Love? Who said anything about love?”

She reached over and patted him on the thigh. “Jack, we’re in the year 100 trillion; the end of the universe, and you just left him a message on that,” she nodded towards the Vortex Manipulator on his wrist. “You don’t even think to do that with a ‘casual shag’.”

Before he could reply, the TARDIS door open and the Doctor stuck his head in. “Oi, are you two finished chit-chatting? We kinda have a ship to start here!” As suddenly as he arrived, he retreated back into the room outside the ship, leaving his two companions alone.

“Come on then, Miss Jones,” Jack sighed, standing up and holding his hand out to Martha. “Time to go save some lives.”

TBC


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

He couldn’t hear the worlds that were being spoken, but Ianto knew the blowfish was taunting him, trying to jibe him into blowing his brains out. He just wished the damn fish would keep still so he could get a clear shot.

“Can you shoot before I do? Can you? Dare you?”

Ianto tightened his grip, about to pull the trigger and put an end to the taunting. Before he reached the trigger, there was a shot and the blowfish fell to the floor in a bloody heap.

Tosh looked at Ianto in surprise and he shook his head, it hadn’t been him that shot the car-thieving alien. Spinning on his heel, Ianto stared when he spotted Jack standing behind him, smoke still emitting from the barrel of his Webley.

“Hey kids, d’ya miss me?”

~

Jack caught Ianto's arm as he passed, giving instructions to the rest of the team. He found it funny that even Gwen didn’t argue when she was instructed to dispose of the Blowfish Jack had killed. 

“I meant what I said,” Jack said under his breath. “I came back for you.”

Ianto nodded his head, never diverting his attention away from the file in front of him. “That’s all very well, sir. But right now we have more pressing matters on our hands.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Jack demanded, releasing Ianto's arm and allowing his hand to fall to the side.

He shook his head, “We have a lot of work. Things to do…” he trailed off when Tosh’s computer beeped, indicating Rift activity on the other side of the city.

~

As they made their way back to the SUV, PC Andy shouted after them, “One of you needs to sign this, releasing the scene to us.”

Ianto sighed and rolled his eyes, “I’ll do it,” he volunteered, jogging back over to Andy and the dead body.

He quickly signed all the necessary paperwork before handing the clipboard back to Andy. He looked up just in time to see the SUV pulling away from the kerb, leaving the team – minus Jack – watching it’s departure.

“Where the fuck is he going?” Ianto demanded, heading back over to them.

Owen shrugged his shoulders angrily. “It’s typical Jack, he swans back in, just to bugger off again.”

“I can track him,” Tosh told them helpfully, holding up her PDA with a small smile.

Ianto grinned and squeezed her shoulder in thanks as Gwen jogged away to hail a taxi cab.

~

The bar looked as though a herd of elephants had tore through there. Clearly people, in their panic, had not cared that they were wrecking the place. Ianto just hoped Jack was okay; whoever left the message had to have been a Time Agent. No one else could tap into that technology.

Gunshots sounded inside the bar and he heard a voice shout, “Okay, everyone out!” 

That voice sounded familiar but Ianto was having difficulty placing it as he nodded to Gwen who nudged the door open and together they entered the bar.

“You’ve got a team! How sweet! No blonde though… You need a blonde.”

Owen rolled his eyes as he entered the room behind Tosh. “God, he’s worse than Jack.”

Ianto wasn’t watching what was happening in front of him, he was busy scanning the room for any other threats. 

“Do you have a name? I love team names!”

Jack scowled at the shorter man and retorted, “Torchwood!”

“Oh, not bikini cops? Excalibur? Torchwood, oh dear.”

“Gwen Cooper,” Jack began introducing them, pointing to each in turn.

Before he could say Ianto's name, the younger Time Agent heard, “Eye Candy?” and he immediately realised where he knew that voice from.

Ianto span around, training his gun on the Time Agent he thought had been killed with everyone else in the safe house. “Mike?” he whispered, too quiet for anyone else to hear.

Jack must have read his lips because he cried, “You two know each other?”

His lover rounded on him and, standing up to his full height, Ianto retorted, “You know each other?”

~

On their way down the dark corridor, Ianto grabbed hold of Jack’s arm and pulled him back, stopping the other man from entering the room.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Ianto hissed in Jack’s ear. “I told you there’s a bounty on your head and you still disappear the instant he leaves a message for you? I thought you were smarter than that.”

Jack wrenched his grip out of his lover’s arm angrily. “I’m a grown man, I can do what I want. I don’t need your permission!”

Ianto placed his hands on Jack’s shoulders, pushing him back against the wall roughly. “He could have killed you!”

The other man laughed and pulled himself away, “If he wants to do that, he can,” he shrugged, dusting his shirt off from where he had been pressed against the wall. “I can’t die remember,” he whispered.

“Will, there’s…”

Jack turned to face Ianto, with a strange expression on his face, cutting Ianto's words off mid-sentence. The younger man couldn’t place the emotions that were flitting across his face but when Jack leant closer he felt his breath hitch.

Before their lips could meet, Mike’s – Captain Hart’s – voice called from the conference room, “Are you two having sex without me?”

~

Ianto was stood in front of the armoury, grabbing his gun from the casing.

“I didn’t know you’d be here,” Hart’s voice said from behind him.

Quickly he locked the armoury, not trusting the other man to have access to the weapons. “I thought you’d been killed,” he stated, referring to that night years before when they had first met.

Hart shrugged his shoulders and leant against the nearby workstation. “I managed to get out before the infantry arrived. Bloody good job too, since it blew up not long after.”

Ianto scowled and tightened his grip on the gun he was holstering; he didn’t have many regrets about his life prior to Torchwood, but all those innocent lives that had been lost still haunted his dreams sometimes.

“How do you know Will?” Hart asked, stepping closer to Ianto and lowering his voice slightly.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” he retorted, stepping away from the other Time Agent.

Captain Hart frowned and studied Ianto. “Are you sure you can trust him? How much about him do you really know?”

Ianto moved so he was looking directly into his eyes, “I know more about him than you could ever possibly hope to be told. I know every freckle, every curve, every inch of him…”

“So do I,” Hart rolled his eyes.

“I know about his past, every detail; his family, why he joined the Time Agency, why he left… Everything.”

The only thing I don’t know is how he’s going to react when I tell him…

~

“I still think leaving Gwen alone with him is a stupid thing to do,” Jack murmured as they rode up in the lift.

Ianto growled and jabbed the top button in the vain hope it would make the lift go faster. Since leaving the Hub, Gwen had been the only person Jack could talk about.

“Just like you can’t believe she’s getting married and that you don’t want her to get hurt in this job,” Ianto scowled as the doors opened. “Do me a favour… Shut up about Gwen for five minutes.”

Jack fell silent and watched as Ianto pushed the doors open and entered the office. “Ianto, I…”

The younger Time Agent swore and span around, glaring at Jack. “I swear, Will, if you say the words Gwen fucking Cooper one more time…”

Jack frowned and shook his head, “I wasn’t going to,” he whispered.

“Oh…”

“I was going to ask if you wanted to grab dinner and a movie when all this over. Once we get rid of Mike.”

Ianto raised an eyebrow and he smirked a little, “Are you asking me out on a date? That’s very twenty-first century of you, Will.”

Jack chuckled and kissed Ianto softly, more than a little concerned when the other man didn’t respond, instead he took a step back, putting space between them.

“I…” Ianto took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “That’s pretty out of character for you.”

“I know…” Jack ran his hand down the column next to him, trying to compose himself. “I’ve had some time to think while I was away and you’re the person I kept thinking about.”

He watched as Ianto moved around the office, opening random drawers and tipping up random bins, seemingly looking for the bombs for their unwanted visitor. “Yeah, well… I’ve had time to think as well,” he heard Ianto mutter under his breath.

~

“He’s back now,” Owen whispered so none of the rest of the team could hear. The others were in the main Hub, while he and Ianto were hidden away from sight.

Ianto sighed and leant back as Owen’s fingers danced across his skin. “I know,” he replied, his voice just as quietly.

Owen continued speaking as his hand continued their journey across Ianto's body. “He deserves to know. This is Torchwood; nothing stays secret for long.”

He inhaled sharply when he felt Owen’s skilled hands brush over a particularly sensitive area. “I just…I don’t know how to tell him. What do I say?”

~

The rest of the team had gone home, Gwen to her new fiancée, Tosh to a tub of ice cream and Owen to an empty apartment where he would likely drink beer and watch porn.

Only Jack and Ianto remained in the Hub. Well, Jack was there and he was pretty sure Ianto hadn’t left without him knowing. But he had no idea where the younger man was.

“Ianto?” he shouted, coming up from the small bunker underneath his office and crossing the room.

Almost immediately, Ianto appeared in the doorway with a cup of coffee in his hands. Jack let out a grateful sigh when he was presented with the steaming hot beverage.

“You not having any?” Jack murmured when he noticed Ianto wasn’t holding his usual cup.

Ianto winced and shook his head. “At this time on a night?”

Jack chuckled and set his cup down on the desk. “Good point,” he agreed, crossing the room and sliding his arms around Ianto's neck. “You know, you never gave me an answer earlier.”

Ianto frowned, feigning innocence; he knew what Jack was referring to and had been dreading the coming confrontation for some time.

“I meant what I said, I came back for you, Ianto. I really did think about us a lot while I was away and I want to do things properly this time…” Jack knew he was babbling but couldn’t seem to stop the worlds from spilling out of his mouth. “Ianto, I…”

Ianto reached up and pressed a finger against Jack’s lips, silencing the other man quickly. 

“Will, before you finish that sentence, there’s something you should know.”

The End


End file.
